Same-Sex Marriage

Nationwide, 52% of Americans support gay marriage. In the South, 44% of people support gay marriage – well below the East (61%), West (58%) and Midwest (52%).

African Americans remain less likely than white Americans to support same-sex marriage, as has been the case for several years. But at the same time, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that a majority of blacks – a significantly bigger share than among whites – say that wedding-related businesses, such as caterers or florists, […]

Today's decision settles the issue in some states, but it has not ended the battle over same-sex marriage.

The Census Bureau last week released a new estimate of the number of U.S. same-sex married couples that is 38% higher than the bureau’s 2012 estimate, but agency officials note that the estimates are likely inaccurate.

Census Bureau officials and other experts do not expect counting same-sex spouses along with all other married couples to make a big impact on overall statistics for married couples. But if the number of same-sex married couples continues to rise, that could change.

It has happened in four states so far, and may well happen in others – a kind of marital limbo where licenses have been granted and vows exchanged, but the marriages themselves have not been officially recognized.

Opposition to same-sex marriage is now more concentrated among a few religious groups – particularly white evangelical Protestants.

The new approach reflects the bureau's evolving policy on reporting household relationships, as it tries to keep pace with social change.

Same-sex marriage is now legal in Washington, D.C., and 17 states (and Arkansas will join them, if a lower-court judge’s ruling last week is upheld). Now the federal government’s task is to produce an accurate count of same-sex married couples.