Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage, issuing licenses to same-sex couples on May 17, 2004. Connecticut followed in 2008, then Iowa and Vermont in 2009, New Hampshire in 2010, the District of Columbia in 2010, and New York in 2011. Maine, Maryland, and Washington became the first states to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote in November 2012. By the time the U.S. Supreme Court required every state to allow same-sex marriage in June 2015, 37 states and D.C. already did.
Massachusetts, 2004: The First State
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided Goodridge v. Department of Public Health on November 18, 2003. The court held that “barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex” violated the Massachusetts Constitution, and it redefined civil marriage as “the voluntary union of two persons as spouses, to the exclusion of all others.”1Justia. Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
The court gave the legislature 180 days to bring state law into line.1Justia. Goodridge v. Department of Public Health Just after midnight on May 17, 2004, couples began filling out marriage license applications at Cambridge City Hall. Massachusetts was the first.
Connecticut and Iowa: The Next Courts to Act
Connecticut was next. In Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health (2008), the state Supreme Court ruled 4–3 that the state’s equal protection clause forbade limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. The case tested the civil union framework Connecticut had offered since 2005, and the court found that separate categories could not be justified.2Connecticut General Assembly. Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health
Iowa followed in April 2009. In Varnum v. Brien, the state Supreme Court unanimously found the one-man, one-woman marriage statute unconstitutional under Iowa’s equal protection clause.3Iowa Judicial Branch. Heather Martin Gartner and Melissa Gartner vs. Iowa Department of Public Health Iowa was the first state in the Midwest to recognize same-sex marriage, and county recorders were issuing licenses within days.
California’s Brief 2008 Window
California’s timeline sits between Connecticut and Iowa but doesn’t hold its 2008 place on any ordered list. On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled 4–3 in In re Marriage Cases that the state’s opposite-sex marriage limit violated the state constitution, and it became the first court in the country to treat sexual orientation as a suspect classification under state law. Same-sex marriages began in June 2008.
They stopped on November 4, 2008, when voters approved Proposition 8 by about 52 percent, amending the California Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Couples already married stayed married; no new licenses issued. A federal district judge struck Prop 8 down in August 2010, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed in February 2012. When Hollingsworth v. Perry reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, the Court dismissed the appeal on standing grounds without reaching the merits, leaving the lower ruling in place. Same-sex marriages resumed in California on June 28, 2013.
The First Legislatures to Legalize
Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through legislation rather than a court order. In 2009 the legislature passed Act 3; when the governor vetoed it, the Senate overrode 23–5 and the House 100–49.4Vermont General Assembly. H.C.R. 127 Vermont had already pioneered civil unions in 2000; Act 3 replaced that framework with full marriage.
New Hampshire enacted its own marriage law soon after. Under the statute, existing civil unions automatically converted to marriages on January 1, 2011, unless the couple had already dissolved or converted them.5New Hampshire Department of State. Civil Union and Same Gender Marriage Guidelines
The District of Columbia Council voted 11–2 in December 2009 to pass the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act. Mayor Adrian Fenty signed it, Congress did not block it during the mandatory 30-day review period, and the law took effect on March 3, 2010.
New York’s Marriage Equality Act, signed by Governor Cuomo on June 24, 2011, was the largest state to legalize by legislation to that point.6New York State Senate. NY State Assembly Bill 2011-A8354
The First Popular-Vote Wins: Maine, Maryland, Washington (2012)
Before November 2012, same-sex marriage had never won a statewide popular vote in the United States. On Election Day that year, three states approved it.
Maine voters approved Question 1, a citizen-initiated statute repealing the state’s prohibition and authorizing marriage licenses for same-sex couples. It passed with about 51.5 percent, three years after Maine voters had rejected a similar law at the ballot box.
In Maryland, Question 6 asked voters whether to uphold the Civil Marriage Protection Act the legislature had already passed. The measure authorized civil marriage licenses for same-sex couples while protecting clergy from being required to perform any ceremony that conflicted with their beliefs.7Maryland State Board of Elections. 2012 Presidential General Election Results
Washington’s Referendum 74 asked voters to approve or reject a same-sex marriage bill the legislature had passed. It preserved the right of clergy and religious organizations to refuse to perform or recognize any marriage ceremony.8Washington State Legislature. Summary of Referendum Measure No. 74 All three measures passed.
From 2013 to Nationwide Legalization in 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Windsor on June 26, 2013, striking down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and opening federal marriage-based benefits to legally married same-sex couples.9Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. United States v. Windsor Windsor did not force any state to allow same-sex marriage, but it accelerated a wave of state-level rulings and legislation over the next two years.
By the time the Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, 37 states and the District of Columbia already allowed same-sex marriage through some mix of court rulings, legislation, and ballot measures. Obergefell held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires every state to license marriages between two people of the same sex and to recognize such marriages lawfully performed elsewhere.10Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Obergefell v. Hodges The remaining state bans fell that day.
Ordered Timeline of the First States
The order in which same-sex marriage first became legal in each of the earliest jurisdictions:
- Massachusetts — May 17, 2004 (court ruling, Goodridge)
- California — June 2008, halted November 2008 by Proposition 8, resumed June 28, 2013 (state court, then ballot amendment, then federal courts)
- Connecticut — 2008 (court ruling, Kerrigan)
- Iowa — April 2009 (court ruling, Varnum)
- Vermont — 2009 (legislation, first state to legalize this way)
- New Hampshire — January 1, 2010 (legislation; existing civil unions converted January 1, 2011)
- District of Columbia — March 3, 2010 (Council legislation)
- New York — July 2011 (Marriage Equality Act, signed June 24, 2011)
- Maine, Maryland, and Washington — November 2012 (first popular-vote approvals)
- Remaining states through 2013–2015 — court rulings and legislation bringing the total to 37 states and D.C.
- All remaining states — June 26, 2015 (Obergefell v. Hodges)
The three routes to legalization each left their mark on the order. Courts moved first and moved earliest, in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and briefly California. Legislatures took over in 2009 with Vermont and continued through New York in 2011. Voters were last to weigh in, and when they finally did in 2012, they approved same-sex marriage in every state where it was on the ballot that November.