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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 15th, 2009
A year ago today the California Supreme Court determined that denying marriage to same-sex couples was a violation of the state Constitution. Six months later the voters of the state reversed that decision and, pending the results of a legal challenge, gay Californians have the same rights as they did before the decision.
But the nation has changed significantly in that year. For the difference between today and a year ago, see the above graphic.
Dark blue = marriage
Light blue = all the rights and responsibilities of marriage but not the name
Yellow = specific limited rights and recognition
Based on statement by the Governor and Legislature of New Hampshire, I’ve included that state as marriage.
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Tavdy
May 15th, 2009
Shouldn’t you also include NM, NY and RI – all of which recognise out-of-state gay marriages. DC probably will soon too, and isn’t MD also looking like it will go down that road soon?
Dan
May 15th, 2009
I think that states like California that provide all the rights and responsibilities but have a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage should be in a different color.
Christopher Waldrop
May 16th, 2009
Dan, you’re right. They should be yellow since that’s the color of cowardice. They’re willing to grant all the rights and responsibilities, which is great, but they’re afraid to call it “marriage”.
Looking at this I try to be positive, but there’s a lot of white space, and some states, like Ohio, have laws that forbid even the granting of some of the rights of marriage to same-sex couples. It’s still an uphill battle.
Dirk Dirksen
May 18th, 2009
There’s no evidence that NM and RI are recognizing same-sex marriages. In fact, there’s evidence to the contrary in RI (a court denied a request to grant a divorce for a couple married in MA). NM has no law prohibiting recognition but neither has it made an affirmative statement that it will recognize same-sex marriages. NY and perhaps soon DC are the only states in this category.
Snowman
May 18th, 2009
It is a tad premature to include New Hampshire. Hopefully just a tad, but it’s risky to count a law till it’s passed and signed.
occono
May 18th, 2009
I thought the fuss about the Divorce in RI was because it does recognise SSM’s but doesn’t license/divorce them.
How hard can it be to get a clear answer? Also I thought SSM’s are only recognised in limited ways in NY and not fully.
generic
May 18th, 2009
Still, that lone blue blob in the heartland makes me smile.
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