Marriage Equality Nears Its Endgame In The U.S.

(The map above is from the website Freedom To Marry.)

After many years of no progress at all, it is remarkable how quickly progress is being made on marriage equality now. Just eleven years ago, there was not a single state that allowed same-sex couples to legally marry and get all the rights and privileges of marriage that opposite-sex couples get. But it seems that after the first state fell, a floodgate was opened.

That first state was Massachusetts, which became the first state to give same-sex couples full marriage rights on May 17, 2014. Now, slightly over ten years later, there are 35 states (those in red on the map above) where same-sex marriage is legal. And 64% of the U.S. population lives in those states -- meaning both a majority of states and a majority of the U.S. population now enjoy marriage equality.

There are six other states where bans on same-sex marriage have been overturned by a federal judge, but where appeals are pending to those decisions. Those states are Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri. In five other states (Georgia, Alabama, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota) the bans are still in effect, but are being challenged in a federal district court.

Four states have had a Circuit Court of Appeals uphold their bans on same-sex marriage (Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan). That was the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and that court's decision was in opposition to four other Circuit Courts of Appeals (4th, 7th, 9th, 10th).

Now it looks like the Supreme Court will be forced to take up the issue, and finally decide whether same-sex couples have the same right as opposite-sex couples, or whether they can be treated as second-class citizens. And there is now some fresh evidence that a majority of that court will rule for equal rights. A federal judge's stay on his decision to allow same-sex marriages in Florida will run out on January 5th. Florida asked the appeals court to keep that stay in effect past that date (until the appeals court can make a decision on Florida's appeal), but the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to do that.

The Florida Attorney General then asked the United States Supreme Court for a stay. The Supreme Court turned them down. Only right-wing justices Thomas and Scalia wanted to issue the stay, while the other seven justices denied the stay. That means there is a very good chance that in the next year to year and a half, same-sex marriage could be legal in all 50 states -- as there could be five to seven court votes for marriage equality. And that's a very good thing -- because if equality can be denied to any group, then it can be denied to every group.