Is gay marriage protected by the constitution
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the Merged States
The road to nationwide marriage equality was a long one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June 2015. Throughout the long battle for marriage equality, HRC was at the forefront.
Volunteer with HRC
From gathering supporters in small towns across the country to rallying in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, we gave our all to confirm every person, regardless of whom they love, is recognized equally under the law.
A Growing Call for Equality
Efforts to legalize homosexual marriage began to pop up across the state in the 1990s, and with it challenges on the state and national levels. Civil unions for same-sex couples existed in many states but created a separate but identical standard. At the federal level, couples were denied access to more than 1,100 federal rights and responsibilities associated with the institution, as well as those denied by their given state. The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 and defined marriage by the federal government as between a human and woman, thereby allowing states to deny m
What the Same Sex Marriage Bill Does and Doesn't Do
The U.S. Senate passed landmark legislation this week enshrining protections for same sex and interracial marriages in federal regulation in a bipartisan vote that marked a dramatic turnaround on a once highly divisive issue.
The Senate activity marks a major hurdle for the legislation, which President Biden has said he will subscribe into law pending a vote in the House of Representatives.
Leonore F. Carpenter, a Rutgers Rule School professor who has served as an LGBTQA rights attorney, explains what the Respect for Marriage Act accomplishes, and what is does not.
What exactly does the Respect for Marriage Act perform to protect queer marriage?
The Act does a few crucial things.
First, it repeals the federal Defense of Marriage Execute . That law was passed in 1996, and it prohibited the federal government from recognizing homosexual marriages that had been validly entered into under a state’s law. It also gave the green light to states to oppose to recognize gay marriages from other states.
Next, it prohibits states from refusing to realize same-sex marriages that are validly entered into in a different state. It’s also impo
Marriage Equality Around the World
The Human Rights Campaign tracks developments in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage around the earth. Working through a worldwide network of HRC global alumni and partners, we lift up the voices of society, national and regional advocates and distribute tools, resources, and lessons learned to empower movements for marriage equality.
Current State of Marriage Equality
There are currently 38 countries where same-sex marriage is legal: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the Merged Kingdom, the Joined States of America and Uruguay.
These countries have legalized marriage equality through both legislation and court decisions.
Countries that Legalized Marriage Equality in 2025
Liechtenstein: On May 16, 2024, Liechtenstein's government passed a bill in favor of marriage equality. The law went into effe
The Court first considered the matter in the 1986 case of Bowers v Hardwick, a challenge to a Georgia law authorizing criminal penalties for persons found guilty of sodomy. Although the Georgia law applied both to heterosexual and queer sodomy, the Supreme Court chose to consider only the constitutionality of applying the law to homosexual sodomy. (Michael Hardwick, who sought to enjoin enforcement of the Georgia law, had been charged with sodomy after a police officer discovered him in bed with another man. Charges were later dropped.) In Bowers, the Court ruled 5 to 4 that the