Global InformationRights and responsibilities of marriages in the United States information
According to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), there are 1,138 statutory provisions[1] in which marital status is a factor in determining benefits, rights, and privileges. These rights were a key issue in the debate over federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal government was prohibited from recognizing same-sex couples who were lawfully married under the laws of their state. The conflict between this definition and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule DOMA unconstitutional on June 26, 2013, in the case of United States v. Windsor. DOMA was finally repealed and replaced by the Respect for Marriage Act on December 13, 2022, which retains the same statutory provisions as DOMA and extends them to interracial and same-sex married couples.
Prior to the enactment of DOMA, the GAO identified 1,049 federal statutory provisions[2] in which benefits, rights, and privileges are contingent on marital status or in which marital status is a factor. An update was published in 2004 by the GAO covering the period between September 21, 1996 (when DOMA was signed into law), and December 31, 2003. The update identified 120 new statutory provisions involving marital status, and 31 statutory provisions involving marital status repealed or amended in such a way as to eliminate marital status as a factor.
The first legally-recognized same-sex marriage occurred in Minneapolis,[3] Minnesota, in 1971.[4] On June 26, 2015, in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court overturned Baker v. Nelson and ruled that marriage is a fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens, and thus legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
- ^ "Defense of Marriage Act: Update to 1997 Report - 2004" (PDF). U.S. General Accounting Office.
- ^ "1997 Report on Marriage Rights" (PDF). U.S. General Accounting Office.
- ^ At a ceremony in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, a United Methodist minister certified the marriage contract. See binder #7, McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage", Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries.
- ^ McConnells against Blue Earth County, “CONCLUSIONS OF LAW”, Fifth Judicial District, File #07-CV-16-4559, 18 September 2018. "The September 3, 1971 marriage of James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell, a/k/a Richard John Baker, has never been dissolved or annulled by judicial decree and no grounds currently exist on which to invalidate the marriage." Available online Archived 2021-03-01 at the Wayback Machine from U of Minnesota Libraries.