Marriage is About Love, Commitment & Family
Facts About Marriage Equality
For more than 20 years, same-sex couples have been legally marrying in the United States, and a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling ensured that same-sex couples could marry nationwide.
More than one million same-sex couples across the country have legally married, and right now, nearly 300,000 children are being raised by married same-sex couples.
Americans overwhelmingly support the freedom to marry for same-sex couples: 72% of Americans support marriage equality, including 56% of Republicans.
Why Marriage Matters
The freedom to marry is one of America’s most fundamental freedoms — rooted in individual liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Ensuring that same-sex couples can legally marry has strengthened families, deepened community ties, and affirmed values that are deeply woven into our country’s history and traditions.
Families – children, parents, grandparents and extended families – rely on the clarity and the legal and social protection that marriage provides, enabling them to make life’s biggest decisions with confidence and peace of mind.
Businesses, governments, and actors across the economy and society rely on marriage to determine family status and operate in line with established rules – in taxation, retirement benefits, insurance coverage, employer-provided healthcare benefits, and government programs. Marriage matters in so many ways – read more here.
Marriage Equality Research
There is a mountain of evidence, expertise, and experience showing that the freedom to marry helps same-sex couples and their children, their broader families, and society at large.
In May 2024, RAND released a landmark report examining the impact of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples on American families and society at large. The two-section report offers groundbreaking analysis and original research evaluating the causal effects of changes in marriage policy across states with regard to marriage rates, divorce rates, and other outcomes in the general population.
In October 2024, Boston Consulting Group released a new report to measure the personal and financial impacts of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The study is based in part on a survey of nearly 4,000 people in the US on the topic of marriage equality, with responses from a socioeconomically, racially, and geographically diverse cross-section of married and unmarried same-sex and different-sex couples
Using data from the American Community Survey and advanced statistical modeling, The Williams Institute estimated the number of couples currently married and examines their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, finding that there are an estimated 823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S. as of June 2025, more than double the number of married same-sex couples in June 2015 when Obergefell was decided. These couples are raising nearly 300,000 children. The percentage of married same-sex couples has increased over the past decade, with approximately 60% cohabitating same-sex couples being married today. Obergefell has had the most profound impact on the South, where the percentage of same-sex couples who are married increased most profoundly since 2015.
Public Support for the Freedom to Marry
A June 2023 poll from Gallup Polling found that once again, 71% of Americans support marriage between same-sex couples. According to the poll results, “Public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50% since the early 2010s.”
A March 2025 poll from PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) found that support for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples remains at an all-time high. Marriage findings include 1) Marriage equality is supported by a majority in every state, and 2) Even in states where same-sex couples would likely be unable to legally marry if Obergefell v. Hodges were overturned have supermajority support for marriage equality (63%).
Centerline Liberties and Project Right Side released a new poll showing broad, bipartisan, and consistent support for marriage equality. Topline numbers included that 72% of all voters believe that same-sex couples should have the right to marry, and that a clear majority of Republicans (56%) support same sex marriage.
A May 2024 demographic analysis and new polling conducted on behalf of Centerline Liberties around the 20th anniversary of legal same-sex marriages in the United States aimed to compile, review, and analyze data from the last 20 years as well as today. The project found historic shifts in public opinion on marriage for same-sex couples; support was only 30% in 2004, but by 2022 it had more than doubled to 67% support.
Why Marriage Matters: Stories
Mario and Monte met and fell in love while attending church in Colorado. Mario is a Senior Airman in the U.S. Air Force. The couple are raising a young child, and they’ve shared their story about family-building widely on their social media channels. They live now in Hawaii.
This piece was written by Meg York of Montpelier, Vermont. She is an advocate for updated protections for LGBTQ+ families nationwide, and has worked toward strengthening families and protecting young people raised by same-sex couples and others.
In May 2024, Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH – the president of the American Medical Association – authored an op-ed for MedPage Today entitled, “20 Years of Same-Sex Marriage Has Been a Boon to Health.”
In December 2023, Weston Clark and Brandon Mark published this op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune, writing, “Most astounding and vital is that our children have grown up almost entirely in a world where their family’s legitimacy is clear and understood, equally, with a (relatively) secure legal blanket around us.”
NV and Katie married in 2014, before NV had come out as a transgender person and changed her identity documents to Female. The freedom to marry for all families has now taken on new importance.
After Prop 8 passed in 2008, Markie and Sarah, who had only been dating three months, went to a protest in Seattle. They landed on the cover of The Seattle Times, which is how they came out to their family. They officially got married in 2016, after an underwater proposal.
Barb and Ann Goldstein have been together for more than four decades. They now call five children, 13 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren their family. They shared their story with LGBTQ Nation in June 2025.
In June 2025, Matt and Raymie published this piece in The New Orleans Advocate on NOLA.com, focused on the tenth anniiversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s freedom to marry ruling.
“Because we got married in January, every year we discuss our goals for the year during our anniversary dinner,” said Rashaun. “We’re having dinner and talking about our goals for the year. And, I think I said, ‘I kinda want to run for office, but it’d be too difficult to do.’”
Dawn and Jen wrote this op-ed in The Iowa City Press-Citizen about their marriage: “As we mark 15 years of the freedom to marry we remain vigilant to attacks on equality.”
This article about Rob and David appeared in The Wall Street Journal the week of the twentieth anniversary of the freedom to marry in Massachusetts, in June 2024.
Ryan and Nicholas published this op-ed, "We’re a gay Tampa couple. Here’s what same-sex marriage has meant to us” in The Tampa Bay Times in June 2025.
Randy and Paul published an op-ed about their family – and serving as one of the plaintiff families in the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court case – and why marriage matters in Kentucky.
Mark and Vic published this op-ed in Dallas Morning News about serving as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit that challenged Texas’ law banning marriage between same-sex couples.
Nancy Willow authored an op-ed about her marriage to her late wife Kim in Cardinal & Pine in June 2025. She movingly shares the story of her father, a man of faith and a minister who officiated her marriage to Kim. “Even during those early days he was eager to stand on the right side of history,” Nancy writes.
Cris & L. Bolton-Hunter started a non-profit organization called Rainbows and Reflections committed to advocating for the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals to access literature that speaks to their experiences and identities.
Perspectives on Marriage Equality
-
"For so many Americans, this isn’t about politics. It’s about letting people live their lives. Same-sex couples build families and contribute to their communities just like anyone else. That’s the reality, and it’s working."
– Mary Bonauto and Marc Solomon, in an August 2025 USA Today Op-Ed
-
"Reliance interests [of 'Obergefell'] are massive. Hundreds of thousands of couples have relied on it in arranging their most intimate and important life relationships. Overruling such a decision would create popular distrust in the judiciary. The notion of destroying marriages and undoing family relationships would be extremely difficult for the Court to justify.”
– Gene C. Schaerr at Schaerr | Jaffe LLP
-
“As the president of the American Medical Association (AMA), the nation's largest and most influential association for physicians, I'm especially heartened by the impact of marriage equality on greater health outcomes. Same-sex couples, their families, and society at large are better off, and healthier all around, because of the freedom to marry. On this 20th anniversary of a major breakthrough, that's something we can all celebrate."
– Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, President of the American Medical Association in MedPage Today
Marriage Equality in the News
Justice Amy Coney Barrett told the New York Times’s Ross Douthat the Supreme Court’s landmark same-sex marriage decision generated “concrete reliance interests,” a factor courts traditionally consider when determining whether to overturn precedent.
In this op-ed, Mary Bonauto and Marc Solomon write, “We have two decades of evidence that marriage equality has helped millions of people across America.”
Ten years ago, my name was one of the two associated with one of the most significant Supreme Court cases in modern history: Obergefell v. Hodges. The outcome granted same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide, transforming the lives of so many in a deeply personal and profoundly legal way.
Resources About Marriage Equality
Whether you are married, have LGBTQ+ parents, or are a sibling, parent, grandparent, family member, friend, co-worker, or neighbor – we’d love to hear from you. Share your connection to marriage equality and how it’s impacted you or others around you!
The Supreme Court is considering whether it will take a case about marriage equality. Here’s what you need to know.
Explore the history of marriage equality in the United States — and the role that LGBTQ+ families played in making it possible – in this archive and story collection produced by Family Equality!
In June 2025, LGBTQ+ advocates and community members gathered in Birmingham, Alabama to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Obergefell ruling. A diverse slate of speakers shared their stories.
Get in Touch!
Send a message to the Why Marriage Matters team, and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible!