Washington D.C.- With marriage equality one of the most hotly contested items on the nation’s 2012 social agenda, new data shows that approximately 12 percent of America’s population live in states that permit–or soon will permit— marriage equality. Proponents of same-sex marriage say that recent polling numbers points to widespread cultural acceptance for across-the-board-parity in marriage.
A dozen states have pending court battles, and voter initiatives of one form or another will litter the political landscape of 2012, a year with political as well as social consequences. Six states—Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont—as well as the District of Columbia issue same-sex marriage licenses. All the states as well as the District legislated the marriage laws.
Last week, Washington State lawmakers approved marriage equality, although that is likely to be challenged, possibly by referendum An additional five states–Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island–allow civil unions that provide rights similar to marriage. A bill passed last week by both houses of New Jersey’s legislature was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. A measure supporting samesex marriage was likewise introduced last week in Illinois, with pending bills from 2011 sessions still active in Hawaii and Minnesota. Marriage equality activists in Maine are also seeking a November ballot initiative to legalize same-sex marriage. In 2009, Pine Tree State voters overturned a state law authorizing marriage equality.
The law had been in effect for just six months. In November, voters in Minnesota and North Carolina will also consider proposals to prohibit same-sex marriage. Legislators in New Hampshire may also weigh a possible repeal of its marriage equality law. In 31 states, voters have approved ballot measures defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Lawsuits that seek to overturn bans on marriage equality or to expand civil unions are being litigated in at least 12 states’ courts, among them Hawaii, Minnesota, and the battleground, California, where a federal appeals court recently ruled against a voter-sanctioned referendum that banned gay marriage. A three-member panel found that the ban was unconstitutional, singling out gays and lesbians for discrimination. Lawyers for the religious and other groups behind the ban beat a midnight deadline to ask the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the 2-1 ruling that declared Proposition 8 to be a violation of the civil rights of LGBT Californians. The case will likely make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. It defines marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman, and further said that states are not required to recognize samesex marriages that are performed in other states. A 1996 Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage; only 27 percent favored it. Last May, Gallup found that 53 percent of Americans favor major equality, while 45 percent opposes it.
