Quick Facts
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Status of Same-Sex Relationships Nationwide
- Pending Lawsuits Seeking Marriage Equality for Same-Sex Couples
- State(s) with Marriage Equality
- States that Give Many or Most of the Benefits And Responsibilities of Marriage but with a Discriminatory Label (6)
- States that Give Limited Benefits with Statewide Domestic Partnership Laws (4)
- States that Give Limited Domestic Partnership Benefits to State Employees (not including states listed in prior categories that provide broader protections.)
- State(s) that Have Proactively Respected Out-of-State-Marriages of Same-Sex Couples
- States with Constitutional Amendments Empowering Legislature to Ban Marriage (1)
- States with Constitutional Amendments Banning Marriage (26)
- States that Otherwise Bar Marriage (by statute or otherwise) (49)
States with laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation:
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin
States that explicitly include gender identity in non-discrimination laws:
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Washington, D.C.
The text of state constitutional amendments targeting same-sex relationships



