A constitutional right was written into statute seven years after a court had already found it, because nobody in the Capitol assumed the finding would hold.
From the enacted text
“No person acting under colour of State law may deny full faith and credit to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage between two individuals, on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals.”
Pub. L. 117–228, § 4 · 136 Stat. 2305
Signed Into Law
Six acts of Congress and one piece of agency guidance — bill number, chamber votes, date of signature, and the section of the code each one touched. All seven
The Respect for Marriage Act, signed 13 December 2022, repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and required federal and interstate recognition of any marriage valid where performed — but imposed no obligation on any state to issue a licence.
1996The Defense of Marriage Act, signed 21 September 1996, had two operative sections: section 3 barred federal recognition and was struck in Windsor (2013); section 2 permitted states to withhold recognition from out-of-state marriages and was never formally struck, remaining on the books until the Respect for Marriage Act repealed it outright in 2022.
2009The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed 28 October 2009, extending federal hate-crime coverage to sexual orientation, gender identity and disability — provisions that had failed to advance in Congress since 2005.
2011The original Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was enacted as section 654 of Title 10 in 1993; the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was signed 22 December 2010 and took effect 20 September 2011 after certification by the Secretary of Defense.
2021The Equality Act, which would have amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to name sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics across public accommodation, housing, education, credit and jury service, passed the House on 25 February 2021 and received no Senate floor vote.
Everywhere Else
Netherlands 2001 first; Thailand's Marriage Equality Act took effect 22 January 2025. Criminalisation count per ILGA World's State-Sponsored Homophobia report. The section
The count is kept by jurisdiction, not by continent: seventy-one separate statutes, each with its own penalty range and date.
Photo: Nothing Ahead / Pexels| In effect | Jurisdiction | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Netherlands | First in the world; passed by the States-General in December 2000 |
| 2015 | Ireland | 62.1 per cent yes on a turnout of 60.5 per cent — the first by popular vote |
| 2018 | Inter-American Court | Advisory Opinion OC-24/17, cited in Colombia, Costa Rica and Chile |
| 2019 | Taiwan | Referendums against; Interpretation No. 748 and a statute for it — first in Asia |
| 2025 | Thailand | First in Southeast Asia to enact marriage equality by statute |
| 2024 | Seventy-one jurisdictions | Still criminalise consensual conduct between adults, per ILGA World |
Nine Votes
The Supreme Court arc from Bowers v. Hardwick in 1986 to United States v. Skrmetti in 2025 — case name, page citation, vote count, and what the holding actually said. All eight
Nine Votes
The Supreme Court held on 26 June 2015 by five votes to four that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognise same-sex marriages — the majority written by Justice Kennedy, four dissents filed separately by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito.
Nine Votes
The Court held five to four in Windsor that DOMA's section 3 — denying federal recognition to lawful same-sex marriages — violated the Fifth Amendment's due process and equal protection guarantees; Edith Windsor's estate-tax claim of $363,053 was the vehicle.
Nine Votes
Justice Gorsuch's majority held that an employer who fires an employee for being gay or transgender necessarily relies on that employee's sex — a protected characteristic under Title VII's 1964 text — and that the outcome follows from the statute's plain terms.
Nine Votes
Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), upheld Georgia's sodomy statute five to four; Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), overruled it six to three, with Justice Kennedy again writing the majority.
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