No state prohibits same-sex marriage. Since June 2015, every state has been required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, so the practical answer to the question of what states don’t allow gay marriage is none of them. That requirement comes from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, reinforced by the Respect for Marriage Act that Congress passed in 2022. Roughly 30 states still carry old constitutional amendments or statutes defining marriage as between one man and one woman, but those provisions are unenforceable and have no legal effect.
Why No State Can Refuse
The Supreme Court settled the question in Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015. The Court held that the right to marry is a fundamental liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment and that same-sex couples cannot be denied that right under either the Due Process Clause or the Equal Protection Clause. State laws challenged in the case were struck down as invalid “to the extent they exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples.”1U.S. Department of Justice. Obergefell v. Hodges Opinion
The ruling does more than protect the ability to get married. It also requires every state to honor a same-sex marriage performed in any other state. A couple who marries in Massachusetts keeps their full legal status if they move to Alabama or Texas. No governor, no county clerk, and no state legislature can override that.
When local officials have tried, the consequences have been swift. A Kentucky county clerk who stopped issuing all marriage licenses in 2015 rather than sign licenses for same-sex couples was ordered by a federal judge to resume, held in contempt when she refused, and jailed. Kentucky was ultimately ordered to pay more than $200,000 in the couples’ legal fees. Personal objections do not override a constitutional mandate when you hold a government office.
The 30 States With Unenforceable Bans Still on the Books
Here is where confusion comes in. Many states never bothered to remove the language that once banned same-sex marriage. These provisions are sometimes called “zombie laws” because the text is technically still there, but it has no legal force. The Texas Constitution, for example, still reads at Article 1, Section 32: “Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.”2Justia. Texas Constitution Article 1 – Section 32 – Marriage That language has been a dead letter since the day Obergefell was decided.
Texas is not alone. States with constitutional amendments or statutory bans that remain in their codes but cannot be enforced include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, among others. The exact count depends on whether you are looking at constitutional provisions, standalone statutes, or both, since some states have both.
None of these provisions can be used to deny a marriage license, refuse to perform a ceremony, or impose any penalty. If a county clerk in any of these states rejected a same-sex couple’s application, they would be violating the U.S. Constitution and exposing their county or state to a federal lawsuit. The written text stays because removing a constitutional amendment typically requires either a statewide ballot measure or a supermajority legislative vote, and many state legislatures have not pursued either path.
States That Have Formally Repealed Their Bans
A handful of states have gone through the formal cleanup process. Nevada became the first to repeal its same-sex marriage ban by voter approval in 2020. California, Colorado, and Hawaii followed in 2024, with voters in each state approving ballot measures to strip the old prohibitions from their constitutions. Several other states, including Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington, either legalized same-sex marriage before Obergefell through their own courts or legislatures, or never adopted bans in the first place.
The repeal efforts matter more for symbolism and future-proofing than for anyone’s day-to-day rights. A same-sex couple in Colorado had the same legal right to marry the day before the 2024 repeal as the day after. Removing the old language eliminates a provision that could theoretically spring back to life if the constitutional landscape ever shifted.
What the Respect for Marriage Act Changed
Congress added a statutory layer of protection in December 2022. The Respect for Marriage Act does two major things. First, it requires every state to give full faith and credit to marriages performed in other states, regardless of the sex, race, or ethnicity of the spouses. Second, it requires the federal government to recognize any marriage that was valid in the jurisdiction where it was performed.3GovInfo. Respect for Marriage Act – Public Law 117-228
The law also repealed the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 statute that had allowed states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages from other states and barred the federal government from treating same-sex spouses as married. With DOMA gone, federal benefits such as Social Security survivor payments, veterans’ spousal benefits, and immigration sponsorship rights flow to same-sex spouses the same way they do for any married couple.4Congress.gov. Public Law 117-228 – Respect for Marriage Act
Enforcement has teeth. The U.S. Attorney General can bring a civil action against anyone acting under state law who violates the recognition requirement, and harmed individuals can sue on their own for declaratory and injunctive relief.3GovInfo. Respect for Marriage Act – Public Law 117-228
The Gap the Act Does Not Close
One distinction most people miss. The Respect for Marriage Act requires states to recognize marriages performed elsewhere, but it does not independently require any state to issue new marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That obligation currently comes entirely from Obergefell. If the Supreme Court ever reversed that decision, the Act would keep the federal government and all states recognizing existing same-sex marriages, but a state with an old ban still on the books could potentially stop issuing new licenses.
In practice, the Act functions as a safety net for couples who are already married rather than a guarantee that future couples can marry anywhere. A same-sex couple in a state that reinstated its ban would need to travel to a state without one, get married there, and return home with a marriage their home state must recognize.
Why This Question Keeps Coming Up
The question resurfaced after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That ruling overturned the constitutional right to abortion and raised questions about other rights grounded in the same legal doctrine. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurrence calling on the Court to “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” naming Obergefell by name. No other justice joined that portion of his opinion, and the majority opinion in Dobbs stated it was not disturbing other precedents, but the concurrence drew attention to the legal vulnerability.
That attention is why Congress moved to pass the Respect for Marriage Act later the same year. Lawmakers recognized that while Obergefell remained good law, a backstop statute would protect married couples even in a worst-case scenario. The roughly 30 states with dormant bans in their codes received renewed scrutiny because those provisions could theoretically become enforceable again if Obergefell were overturned and no other legal protection existed.
For now, Obergefell remains binding on every court in the country. The Supreme Court has not signaled interest in revisiting it through any majority opinion, and the Respect for Marriage Act provides a statutory floor that did not exist before 2022. Same-sex couples can marry in all 50 states, every U.S. territory, and the District of Columbia.