States
Various states now offer broad protections short of marriage, including civil union in Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Delaware and broad domestic partnership in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and California. Smaller packages of protections for same-sex couples are available in Maryland, Maine, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
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Six states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York) plus the District of Columbia have the freedom to marry for gay couples, and there are three more states (Maryland, Rhode Island, and New Mexico) that officially pledge non-discrimination against marriages between same-sex couples from other states.
Various states now offer broad protections short of marriage, including civil union in Illinois, Hawaii, and New Jersey, and broad domestic partnership in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and California. Smaller packages of protections for same-sex couples are available in Maryland, Maine, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
With these advances, over 14% of the US population lives in a state that either has the freedom to marry for gay couples or honors out-of-state marriages of gay couples. Over 35% live in a state with either marriage or a broad legal status such as civil union/domestic partnership. Also, more than 42% of the US population (over 130 million Americans) live in a state which provides some form of protections for gay couples.
Learn about International Progress Toward the Freedom to Marry