On Dec. 7, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a number of federal appeals court decisions on same-sex marriage: one striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and another invalidating California’s Proposition 8, a ballot measure passed in 2008 that amended the state’s constitution to ban gay marriage. (For more details, see Same-Sex Marriage in the Courts.)
The court’s decision comes just a month after voters in three states – Maine, Maryland and Washington – approved ballot initiatives legalizing same-sex marriage. On the same day, Nov. 6, 2012, voters in Minnesota rejected an attempt to add language to the state’s constitution banning gay marriage. Same-sex marriage is now, or soon will be, legal in the District of Columbia and nine states: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. At the same time, 30 states have added language to their constitutions banning same-sex marriage. (See Graphic:State Policies on Same-Sex Marriage.)
