User:NatGertler/marriage

VERY OUTDATED, may still be of use in an history article The legal status of 'same-sex marriage in the United States varied by state. Prior to the federal government recognizing same-sex marriages, individual states set their own laws on the matter.41 states defined marriage as the union between one man and one woman only, either in their state constitution, or in state law, or both. Five states and the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage.

Better table, feel free to work on this

• Note - Table does not include pending court challenges to its legal status.

State	Legal status	Establishment of current legal status	Other recognitions	More information
Alabama	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)	None
Alaska	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (1998)	Spousal benefits for state and local government employees
Arizona	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2008)	None
Arkansas	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)	None
California	Recognized*	Constitutional referendum (2008)	Domestic partnership & unnamed marriage-like status
Colorado	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)	Designated beneficiary agreements
Connecticut	Legal	Supreme Court of Connecticut ruling (2008)	n/a	Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health
Delaware	Illegal	State law (1996)	None
District of Columbia	Legal	Local law (2009)
Florida	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)	Domestic partnerships recognized by two counties
Georgia	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)	None
Hawaii	Illegal	State law	Civil unions, reciprocal beneficiary relationships	Hawaii Constitutional Amendment 2 (1998)
Idaho	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)	None
Illinois	Illegal	State law (2005)	Civil unions legalized 2011
Iowa	Legal	Iowa Supreme Court ruling (2009)		Varnum v. Brien
Kansas	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2005)	None
Kentucky	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)	None
Louisiana	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)	None
Maine			Domestic partnership	Maine Question 1, 2009
Maryland	Illegal	State law	?
Massachusetts	Legal	Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling (2003)	n/a	Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
Michigan	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)	None
Minnesota	Illegal	State law (1997)
Mississippi	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Missouri	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Montana	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Nebraska	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2000)		Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning
Nevada	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2002)
New Hampshire	Legal	State law (2009)
New Jersey			Civil unions legalized 2006
New Mexico
New York	Legal	State law (2011)		Marriage Equality Act
North Carolina	Illegal	State law (1996)
North Dakota	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Ohio	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Oklahoma	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Oregon	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Pennsylvania	Illegal	State law (1996)
Rhode Island
South Carolina	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)
South Dakota	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)
Tennessee	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)
Texas	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2005)
Utah	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2004)
Vermont	Legal	State law (2009)
Virginia	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)
Washington	Legal in June 2012	State law (2012)
West Virginia	Illegal	State law (2000)
Wisconsin	Illegal	Constitutional referendum (2006)
Wyoming	Illegal	State law (2003)