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The Changing and Conflicting State of Same-Sex Marriage

By Richard A Wilson

The May 17, 2004 legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts cleared a symbolic and practical barrier to marriage between persons of the same sex within the United States, as the state became the first in the U.S. to give legal sanction to marriage between persons without regard to gender. The formal legal acceptance of same-sex marriage by a single jurisdiction within the United States, however, merely exacerbated a problem that has been developing and evolving for some time: the growing legal uncertainty brought by the legalization of same-sex marriage and unions by certain jurisdictions on the one hand, and increasing efforts to prohibit them from being granted or recognized, in others.

At least 36 American states have amended their marriage laws either to define marriage as a union only between a man and a woman, or to prohibit marriage between persons of the same sex, or both; many states have passed laws expressly barring recognition of such relationships or unions, from other jurisdictions. Eleven states had questions on their November ballots to amend their respective state constitutions to bar same-sex marriages (Missouri already approved one in August and Louisiana approved one in September, but it was overturned Oct. 4, 2004) and some would bar almost any kind of partnership or union between persons of the same gender.

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