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As of 2015, all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia legally recognize and document same-sex relationships in some fashion, be it by same-sex marriage, civil union or domestic partnerships. Many counties and municipalities outside of these states also provide domestic partnership registries or civil unions which are not officially recognized by the laws of their states, are only valid and applicable within those counties, and are usually largely unaffected by state law regarding relationship recognition (except in some aspects). In addition, many cities and counties continue to provide their own domestic partnership registries while their states also provide larger registries (for all relationship recognitions); a couple can only maintain registration on one registry, requiring the couple to de-register from the state registry before registering with the county registry.
These are the cities and counties of United States which offer a domestic partnership and/or civil union classified by census region. [1]
Same-sex marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) and reciprocal beneficiary relationships are all granted throughout the state to same-sex couples. [2]
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples and all previous domestic partnerships (with the exception of couples with at least one member aged 62 or above) have automatically been converted into civil marriage.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage and domestic partnerships are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages, civil unions and designated beneficiary agreements are all granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the state to same-sex couples. [13]
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are all granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples. [42] [43] [44]
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples and all previous civil unions were automatically converted into same sex marriages.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples and all previous civil unions were automatically converted into same sex marriages.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples and all previous civil unions were automatically converted into same sex marriages.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships are all granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships (limited to state employees only) are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples. All previous civil unions have been automatically converted into civil marriages. [86]
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are both granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are both granted in the entire district to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages are granted throughout the entire state to same-sex couples.
A civil union is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage.
A domestic partnership is an intimate relationship between people, usually couples, who live together and share a common domestic life but who are not married. People in domestic partnerships receive legal benefits that guarantee right of survivorship, hospital visitation, and other rights.
A California domestic partnership is a legal relationship, analogous to marriage, created in 1999 to extend the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. It was extended to all opposite-sex couples as of January 1, 2016 and by January 1, 2020 to include new votes that updated SB-30 with more benefits and rights to California couples choosing domestic partnership before their wedding. California Governor Newsom signed into law on July 30, 2019.
Since 1997, the U.S. state of Hawaii has offered reciprocal beneficiary registration for any adults who are prohibited by state law from marrying, including both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
In the United States, domestic partnership is a city-, county-, state-, or employer-recognized status that may be available to same-sex couples and, sometimes, opposite-sex couples. Although similar to marriage, a domestic partnership does not confer any of the myriad rights and responsibilities of marriage afforded to married couples by the federal government. Domestic partnerships in the United States are determined by each state or local jurisdiction, so there is no nationwide consistency on the rights, responsibilities, and benefits accorded domestic partners.
Domestic partnerships were established in the state of Maine by statute in April 2004, taking effect on July 30, 2004. This placed Maine in the category of U.S. states that offered limited recognition of same-sex relationships, but not all of the legal protections of marriage, as Maine does not recognize common law marriages.
Same-sex unions in the United States are available in various forms in all states and territories, except American Samoa. All states have legal same-sex marriage, while others have the options of civil unions, domestic partnerships, or reciprocal beneficiary relationships. The federal government only recognizes marriage and no other legal union for same-sex couples.
Domestic partnerships in Wisconsin afford limited rights to same-sex couples. They have been recognized in Wisconsin since August 3, 2009. Domestic partnerships in Wisconsin provide select rights, such as the ability to inherit a partner's estate in the absence of a will, hospital and jail visitation, and the ability to access family medical leave to care for a sick partner. Wisconsin's domestic partnership registry does not provide for two-parent adoptions by persons of the same sex, and it confers far fewer rights, duties and protections than are associated with marriage. Wisconsin ended its domestic partnership registry on April 1, 2018.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Utah since October 6, 2014. On December 20, 2013, the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as a result of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah's ruling in the case of Kitchen v. Herbert, which found that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates the U.S. Constitution. The issuance of those licenses was halted during the period of January 6, 2014 until October 6, 2014, following the resolution of a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. On that day, following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal in a case that found Utah's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Nevada since October 9, 2014, when a federal district court judge issued an injunction against enforcement of Nevada's same-sex marriage ban, acting on order from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit had ruled two days earlier that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Same-sex marriage was previously banned by an amendment to the Constitution of Nevada approved in 2002. The statutory and constitutional bans were repealed in 2017 and 2020, respectively.
Same-sex marriage has been recognized in Montana since a federal district court ruled the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on November 19, 2014. Montana had previously denied marriage rights to same-sex couples by statute since 1997 and in its State Constitution since 2004. The state appealed the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but before that court could hear the case, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all same-sex marriage bans in the country in Obergefell v. Hodges, mooting any remaining appeals.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in North Carolina since October 10, 2014, when a U.S. District Court judge ruled in General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper that the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples was unconstitutional. Governor Pat McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper had acknowledged that a recent ruling in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear an appeal in that case established the unconstitutionality of North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage. State legislators sought without success to intervene in lawsuits to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
Before the legalization of same-sex marriage in Florida in January 2015, same-sex couples were able to have their relationships recognized in some Florida localities that had established a legal status known as domestic partnership.
Several jurisdictions in the U.S. state of Ohio have established domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. The fate of these partnerships remains uncertain since marriage has become available to all couples.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Wisconsin enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBT people. However, the transgender community may face some legal issues not experienced by cisgender residents, due in part to discrimination based on gender identity not being included in Wisconsin's anti-discrimination laws, nor is it covered in the state's hate crime law. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Wisconsin since October 6, 2014, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal in the case of Wolf v. Walker. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is banned statewide in Wisconsin, and sexual orientation is a protected class in the state's hate crime laws. It approved such protections in 1982, making it the first state in the United States to do so.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Missouri face some legal challenges not experienced by other residents throughout the state, excluding St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Missouri, in accordance with 2003's Lawrence v. Texas decision.
The Domestic Partner Task Force was a governmental body established in 1983 by the Californian City of Berkeley's Human Relations and Welfare Commission to draw up the structure of the city's domestic partnership program. Leland Traiman, then the vice-chair of the HRWC and a gay rights activist, was appointed as leader of the Task Force.
The topic of same-sex unions and military service concerns the government treatment or recognition of same-sex unions who may consist of at least one servicemember of a nation's military.
The U.S. state of Texas issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognizes those marriages when performed out-of-state. On June 26, 2015, the United States legalized same-sex marriage nationwide due to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Article 1, Section 32, of the Texas Constitution provided that "Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman," and "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage." This amendment and all related statutes have been ruled unconstitutional and unenforceable. Some cities and counties in the state recognize both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partnerships.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the U.S. state of Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. Attorney General Sam Olens announced that Georgia would "adhere to the ruling of the Court", and the first couple married just one hour after the ruling was handed down. Previously, Georgia had banned same-sex marriage both by statute and its State Constitution.
Mr. Hirsch and his longtime partner, Herbert Leiman, are noted equal rights activists and were the first to sign the domestic partner registry in North Hills.
Berea has become the third city in Kentucky to extend domestic-partner benefits to employees, an advocacy group said Thursday in a news release.
Across the Ohio River, city commissioners in Covington, Kentucky, voted to allow municipal employees to extend insurance coverage to their domestic partners.
Officials in Lexington have voted to extend domestic partner benefits to city employees.
On Feb. 22 [2011], City Council authorized the creation of a Domestic Partner Registry to recognize same-sex relationships.
Buncombe County is now the fourth county in North Carolina to offer domestic partner benefits to the unmarried opposite sex and same-sex partners of county employees. In a 4 to 3 vote on March 19, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved a policy that "extends benefits and leave policy coverage to same and opposite sex domestic partners" to employees of Buncombe County. The benefits include health insurance, life insurance and family leave benefits allowed by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
In North Carolina, only Durham and Orange counties, the cities of Durham and Greensboro, and the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro offer domestic partner benefits.
In conjunction with the County Attorney's legal opinion that only same-sex domestic partner benefits can be offered to County employees without the violation of the Commissioners' oaths of office, the Human Resources Department has completed the actions necessary to make this offering possible.
Mecklenburg County is committed to equal and nondiscriminatory treatment for employees in the administration of benefits programs, including the extension of benefits to same-gender domestic partners.
St. Cloud followed Kissimmee's lead Sept. 8 and approved domestic partner benefits for city employees