Current Statistics thanks to Williams Institute
By Melanie Nathan, January 16, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will review the constitutionality of bans on same-sex marriage in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. The Court’s ruling is expected in June 2015 and will likely impact not only the same-sex couples in these four states but also the nearly 160,000 same-sex couples and their 60,000 children who live in the 14 states and Puerto Rico where same-sex marriage bans are currently being enforced, as well as more than 200,000 same-sex couples and their 65,000 children who live in the 19 states where courts struck down same-sex marriage bans under the federal constitution in 2014.
Key nationwide statistics include:
• As of today, more than three-quarters (75.8%) of same-sex couples across the country are living in the 36 states where they can marry and more than seven-in-ten (70.4%) Americans are living in states that allow marriage for same-sex couples.
• Williams Institute research suggests that there were 690,000 same-sex couples in the US in 2013 raising an estimated 200,000 children. As many as 30,000 of those children are being raised by married parents.
• Recent Williams Institute analyses suggest that the number of married same-sex couples, estimated to be as high as 130,000 in 2013, has increased by more than 50% over the last 3 years.
• Fourteen states, home to nearly 30% of the US population, (AL, AR, GA, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, ND, NE, OH, SD, TN, TX) and Puerto Rico continue to enforce bans on same-sex marriage.
• In 2014, courts prohibited nineteen states, home to 32% of the US population, from enforcing their bans on same-sex marriage on federal constitutional grounds (AZ, AK, CO, ID, IN, FL, KS, OK, OR, PA, NC, NV, MT, SC, UT, VA, WI, WV, WY).
Williams Institute scholars have filed amicus briefs and served as expert witnesses in many cases concerning marriage rights for same-sex couples, including all of the cases the Supreme Court has agreed to review. Numerous courts have relied explicitly on William Institute research in striking down bans on marriage for same-sex couples, including the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits.
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
This wave is on the way ….. equality is getting closer!!
A few days ago, the Supremes had turned down an appeal on this issue, so I am gratified that they have chosen to take it up. Sadly, I live in Georgia – one of the state that does not permit gay marriage. As an American lawyer, I am personally gratified they have now done so: the Supremes made it perfectly clear, in the Defense of Marriage Act case that they see right through the subterfuges of bigotry.
Even more good news: Happily, my fiancé is coming from the Philippines, this year, to marry me in the USA and he is SMOKIN’ HOT! Take THAT, anti-gay people!
Thank you to Melanie for all of your hard work in Africa. I wish I could do more to support you. I have written to the Red Pepper in Uganda, but that was before I realized what a bunch of bigots they were! Horrible! How do they think they can build a great nation, when they create a society of hate and a culture of violence??? Aren’t the Muslims learning this lesson, even now, in Syria and Iraq???
Thank you Jim for your encouragement. That is supportive in and of itself.
As the human rights activists of the 1960’s said, “We SHALL overcome!”
I understand that not every one of them would have taken up our cause, but until there is an end to violence against people like me who are gay, the same people like not end violence against everyone else. They have created a society of hatred and a culture of violence.
God BLESS the men and women of faith who stand against this!
GOOD PIECE sharing… LOVE Stats.
Having the country divide on withholding the civil rights of it’s citizens…hmmm. Excuse me, but this sounds like a repeat of the slavery issue all over again. I think it’s in the best interests of the USA to unite behind equality, rather than hunker-down into it’s own sordid past history of bigotry.