The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21,1996. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marriage to the union of one man and one woman,and it further allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states.
The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA),also referred to by proponents as the Marriage Protection Amendment,was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would legally define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. The FMA would also prevent judicial extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The availability of legally recognized same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state (Massachusetts) in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015 through various court rulings,state legislation,and direct popular votes. States each have separate marriage laws,which must adhere to rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States that recognize marriage as a fundamental right guaranteed by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,as first established in the 1967 landmark civil rights case of Loving v. Virginia.
Sandra Lea Shank Beckwith,also known as Sandra L. Ammann,is a senior United States District Judge,the first woman to sit on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Deborah Louise Cook is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,based in Akron,Ohio. She served as a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court from 1995 to 2003.
Jeffrey Stuart Sutton is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Sutton was appointed to the Sixth Circuit in 2003 by President George W. Bush and has served as its chief judge since 2021.
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.
Joseph Francis Bataillon is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
Martin Leach-Cross Feldman was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Henry Franklin Floyd is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Susan Judy Dlott is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Louisiana since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015. The court held that the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional,invalidating Louisiana's ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling clarified conflicting court rulings on whether state officials are obligated to license same-sex marriages. Governor Bobby Jindal confirmed on June 28 that Louisiana would comply with the ruling once the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its decision in a Louisiana case,which the Fifth Circuit did on July 1. Jindal then said the state would not comply with the ruling until the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana reversed its judgment,which it did on July 2. All parishes now issue marriage licenses in accordance with federal law.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Ohio enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBTQ people. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Ohio since 1974,and same-sex marriage has been legally recognized since June 2015 as a result of Obergefell v. Hodges. Ohio statutes do not address discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity;however,the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBTQ people is illegal in 2020. In addition,a number of Ohio cities have passed anti-discrimination ordinances providing protections in housing and public accommodations. Conversion therapy is also banned in a number of cities. In December 2020,a federal judge invalidated a law banning sex changes on an individual's birth certificate within Ohio.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ohio since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges,a landmark decision in which the court struck down the state's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage on June 26,2015. The case was named after plaintiff Jim Obergefell,who sued the state of Ohio after officials refused to recognize his marriage on the death certificate of his husband. The first same-sex marriages in Ohio were performed shortly after the Supreme Court released its ruling,as local officials implemented the order.
This article contains a timeline of significant events regarding same-sex marriage in the United States. On June 26,2015,the landmark US Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges effectively ended restrictions on same-sex marriage in the United States.
Michael J. McShane is an American lawyer serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He previously served as a state court judge on the Oregon Multnomah County Circuit Court from 2001 to 2013.
Obergefell v. Hodges,576 U.S. 644 (2015),was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The 5–4 ruling requires all 50 states,the District of Columbia,and the Insular Areas to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as the marriages of opposite-sex couples,with equal rights and responsibilities. Prior to Obergefell,same-sex marriage had already been established by statute,court ruling,or voter initiative in 36 states,the District of Columbia,and Guam.
In the United States,the history of same-sex marriage dates from the early 1940s,when the first lawsuits seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention though they proved unsuccessful. However marriage wasn't a request for the LGBTQ movement until the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington (1987). The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Miike that suggested the possibility that the state's prohibition might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples,notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Alphonse A. Gerhardstein is a civil rights attorney in Ohio who has been litigating since 1976. While he is best known nationally as lead counsel for James Obergefell in the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision Obergefell v. Hodges,he has been an advocate on behalf of prisoners,victims of police misconduct and women seeking reproductive freedom throughout his career,in addition to LGBTQ causes like same-sex marriage. He has recovered millions of dollars and secured substantial reforms for victims of official misconduct. He is also the founder of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center,a nonprofit agency that advocates and litigates for criminal justice reform.
James Obergefell is an American civil rights activist who was the lead plaintiff in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges,which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Obergefell had sued the state of Ohio in 2013,due to the state's lack of legal recognition of Obergefell's marriage to his husband,John Arthur (1967–2013). Obergefell was the Democratic nominee for the 89th legislative district of the Ohio House of Representatives in the 2022 elections.
