Gay marriage banned states
Republican state lawmakers galvanize to attack gay marriage
Republicans in red states across the US have been pushing a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ measures targeting same-sex marriages with an aim of ultimately securing a supreme court ban on the federally protected right.
The recent wave of Republican-led bills targeting same-sex marriage comes amid a second Donald Trump presidency in which his administration has taken on more emboldened attacks against Homosexual communities across the country, as seen through a flurry of executive orders he signed, assailing various LGBTQ+ rights.
Numerous Republican lawmakers across red states hold followed suit in both rhetoric and the introduction of bills, sparking concerns across LGBTQ+ and civil rights organizations over their social and political effects.
In Oklahoma in January, a day after Trump’s inauguration, the Republican state senator Dusty Deevers introduced a series of bills targeting Homosexual rights, among them the Promote Toddler Thriving act.
The Promote Child Thriving perform establishes a $500 tax credit per child for a mother and father filing jointly and is escalated to $1,000 if the child was born after the marriage of the paren
Same-sex marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 legalized nationwide in the case known as Obergefell v. Hodges, is facing resurgent hostility.
In the decade since the court’s decision, public support for same-sex marriage has increased. Currently, about 70% ofAmericans approve of legally identifying the marriages of lgbtq+ couples, a 10-percentage-point bump from 2015.
Obergefell led to an increase in marriages among same-sex partners, with more than 700,000 lgbtq+ couples currently married.
Despite this, Republican lawmakers in five states have recently introduced symbolic bills calling on the Supreme Court to overturn its ruling in Obergefell.
And Republican lawmakers in two states acquire proposed legislation that creates a new category of marriage, called “covenant marriage,” that is reserved for one man and one woman.
As a professor of legal studies, I believe such attacks on same-sex marriage represent a serious threat to the institution.
And others share my concern.
A 2024 poll of married same-sex couples start that 54% of respondents are worried that the Supreme Court might overturn Obergefell, with only 17% saying they did not anticipate such a challe
Marriage Equality Around the World
The Human Rights Campaign tracks developments in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage around the world. Working through a worldwide network of HRC global alumni and partners, we lift up the voices of community, national and regional advocates and share tools, resources, and lessons learned to enable 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 United Kingdom, the United 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 effect January 1, 2025.
At a convention for Southern Baptist church members in early June, delegates endorsed legislation calling for a ban on same-sex marriage and urged legislators to support them in this goal.
Although same-sex marriage is currently protected in all 50 states due to the ruling in Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015, Justice Clarence Thomas has said he would enjoy to "reconsider" that decree if a similar case were ever to before the court again.
He also said he would be open to reconsidering Lawrence vs. Texas which legalized gay sex, and Griswold vs. Connecticut which legalized access to contraception, as these cases were built on similar case regulation to Roe vs. Wade, which legalized the right to an abortion nationwide, was overturned in 2022.
Why It Matters
The Southern Baptist church is the U.S.' largest protestant denomination, and their endorsement of political causes has sway with GOP politicians, as they are a consistent Republican-voting base. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is one of the country's most powerful Southern Baptists.
This call to eliminate lgbtq+ marriage comes amid an existing push from President Donald Trump's administration to remove transgender people
MAP Report: The National Patchwork of Marriage Laws Underneath Obergefell
Rebecca Farmer, Movement Advancement Project
rebecca@lgbtmap.org | 303-578-4600 ext 122
As the Respect for Marriage Act moves through Congress, MAP’s March 2022 report on the landscape of varying state marriage laws around the country is a resource. MAP researchers are available to retort questions and our infographics are on hand for use.
MAP’s report, Underneath Obergefell, explores the patchwork of marriage laws around the country. The state highlights the truth that a majority of states still have existing laws on the books that would exclude marriage for homosexual couples – even though those laws are currently unenforceable under the U.S. Supreme Court verdict in Obergefell.
If the U.S. Supreme Court were to revisit the Obergefell ruling, the ability of same-sex couples to marry could again fall to the states, where a majority of states still have in place both bans in the statute and in declare constitutions.
The policy landscape for express marriage laws can be broken into four major categ