Archived 2015 updates - The State of Marriage Equality Nationwide

The State of Marriage Equality Nationwide:

2015

Newer updates

June 26, 2015:

Today, nationwide marriage equality was achieved in the US. I have waited all 29 years of my life for this moment to come true. Thank you.

The ruling is available here.

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people be come something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. I would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civiliza tion's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.

It takes effect immediately in all states. Christian political bigots like Texas Gov Greg Abbott are willing to block courthouse doors (à la 1963) and gum up the works, but they have zero legal authority to do so.

We still have battles in the larger war for LGBT equality to fight. And as a 5:4 ruling, it serves as a nail-biting reminder of the precipice that the future of our country is teetering on. But this is a day to celebrate...and rejoice that in one important metric, the world just got a little bit better.

Greta Christina says:

I'm tickled pink about this, for all the obvious reasons. I'm actually finding myself uncharacteristically tongue-tied: this is so obvious, it has been so obvious for so long, I'm finding it hard to put into words exactly why this is important and wonderful. Marriage equality is, you know, equality. Millions of couples around the United States are no longer second-class: our marriages are seen as fully valid, with the same rights and responsibilities as any other. To put it in personal terms: Every year, Ingrid and I go to Skepticon in Missouri. This year, it'll be the first time we won't have the constant worry in the back of our minds, "What happens if one of us gets sick or hurt? What happens if some asshole at the hospital decides not to let us make medical decisions for each other, or even let us visit each other — because they think gay sex makes baby Jesus cry?"

Now, multiply that by millions. Millions of couples around the country can now visit each other in the hospital, make medical decisions for each other, adopt kids together, file state income taxes together, travel from state to state without their marriages disappearing and re-appearing and disappearing again.

Now, we need to put our momentum to work. Let's use our marriage equality victory as a foundation for ending workplace and housing discrimination in all 50 states, banning reparative therapy as the abusive quackery that it is, and taking concrete steps to protect transgender lives and civil rights. If we can win the marriage battle against odds that seemed insurmountable 20 years ago, we can win anything.

February 2, 2015:

What happened in the last three months?

Nov. 4: Election day arrives, and anti-gay theocrats have a field day getting their way through white identity politics, voter suppression, and bottomless propaganda funding.
Nov. 6: Thanks to a 2:1 majority of George W. Bush appointees, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the damning De Boer trial and moved to uphold the marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Although a circuit split at some point was almost inevitable, this was the "fuck you" that put the crown on top of a terrible week.

These blows landed me in a funk that I still haven't escaped from...hence, the lack of updates. But meanwhile...

Oct. 21: Marriage equality takes effect in Wyoming. (Sadly for Matthew, it's 16 years late.)
Nov. 4: A federal court bars Kansas from enforcing its marriage ban. Sam Brownback takes a break from his day-to-day chore of bankrupting the state to go ballistic, deny recognition of the marriages, spout animus, and attempt to appeal. That said, marriages are going on now in the majority of counties whether he likes it or not.
Nov. 5: Marriages begin in Missouri on a piecemeal basis due to an order affecting St. Louis in state court. A second ruling and a dose of local volition led to all of St. Louis County and Jackson County (greater Kansas City) adopting marriage equality as well; although the rest of the state remains mum about the matter.
Nov. 12: After months of flouting the Fourth Circuit's ruling in a Kansas-like tirade, South Carolina has their marriage ban struck down directly, and appeals are denied.
Nov. 17: The ACLU file to challenge the marriage ban of Nebraska...the last state not to have a lawsuit brewing to that effect.
Nov. 19: The Rockies continue to be conquered as the marriage ban of Montana is struck down. The ruling takes effect immediately.
Nov. 25: Dominos continue to topple in unlikely places as Mississippi's marriage ban is struck down. A stay precludes the ruling from immediately coming into effect. "NO 2 GAY MARRAGE, KILL THEM" is subsequently spray-painted on a Jackson wall.
Dec. 5: A trial against Scott Lively for the charge of Crimes Against Humanity advances to federal court. Lest you forget his name, Scott Lively is the Christian Republican hate-group leader who authored a horrible book called The Pink Swastika and is directly responsible for fostering the imminent "Kill the Gays" law in Uganda.
Jan. 6: 91 days after the ruling, the stay on the Florida court case expires and marriages begin...just like clockwork. Unfortunately it isn't all peaches and cream in Rick Scott's state: Clerks express concern that Florida's punitive ban will make them risk fines and jail time for obeying the law, and a gay couple finds their driver's licenses canceled in the meantime.
Jan. 12: South Dakota's marriage ban is struck down; though the ruling is stayed instead of immediately coming into effect.
Jan. 15: Rick Snyder gets a black eye as a federal judge rules that the government of Michigan must recognize same-sex marriages peformed in the state's eyeblink of equality last March. (Whether or not this gets drawn out even further remains to be seen.)
Jan. 16: The Supreme Court grants review of all four marriage cases bounced to them from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jan. 23: Alabama's marriage ban is struck down. The ruling is stayed...but only until February 9, at which point marriages could begin. Things could escalate in a hurry, though: Roy Moore—the state court justice who was removed from his job only to be voted back into it again, and who authored charming opinions like this—wrote a letter citing "the Biblical admonition stated by our Lord" and urging state officials to defy the ruling and fan the flames of insurrection while doing so. Good grief.

I'm none pleased to have to add cross-and-elephant icons to the tables below. Legislators may not be able to repeal marriage equality in the states that have it now, but they will spite us by allowing bigoted employers to fire LGBT workers with impunity and by passing newspeak-named "religious freedom" bills to ensure that bigots have the special right to deny public accommodations to LGBT people if they cite their god while doing so. Anti-discrimination statutes and "reparative therapy" child-abuse bans have no chance of being tabled (let alone passing) in any state where the Christian-nationalist Republican Party has lockstep control.

A silver lining of the Sixth Circuit's split is that it forced the Supreme Court to take a marriage case and tackle the issue sooner rather than later...and although I take any matter before the five injustices of SCOTUS with trepidation, the real possibility exists that we could have marriage equality in all fifty states by the middle of this year.

Older updates

The State of Marriage Equality Nationwide [Home]

The Network