Page "Federal Marriage Amendment" Paragraph 4

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in the District of Columbia and in six U. S. states: New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa and Connecticut.

In 2003 and 2008 respectively, the Massachusetts and California Supreme courts ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health and In Re Marriage Cases that the states ' constitutions required the state to permit same-sex marriage.

The Massachusetts decision could be reversed by an amendment to the state constitution ; to date, no such amendment has successfully been passed in Massachusetts.

On June 2, the California Marriage Protection Act qualified for the 2008 General Election ballot.

Voted on by California Nov. 4, 2008, it amended the California Constitution to provide that " Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

" Proposition 8 has since been declared unconstitutional and is waiting for decision by the Supreme Court.

Several other states including Vermont, California, New Jersey, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii, Maryland, Colorado, Delaware, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Maine allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships that provide some of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law.

Thirty states have passed state constitutional amendments defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.