Gay marriage now legal in 1/3 of states

Same-sex marriage has gained legal standing in more than one-third of America’s 50 states.

Utah became the 18th state to legalize same-sex marriage Dec. 20 when a federal judge struck down a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.

The day before, on Dec. 19, the New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously ruled gay marriage is constitutional in the state.

The legal victory by same-sex marriage advocates added to their successes in an unprecedented year for the movement. In 2013, marriage between people of the same sex became legal in eight states — the most of any year so far.

The New Mexico decision produced another setback for defenders of the biblical and traditional view of marriage as between a man and a woman. It came less than a week after a federal judge in Utah essentially decriminalized polygamy and about a month after two states, Hawaii and Illinois, legalized gay marriage.

Southern Baptist ethicist Russell D. Moore, one of biblical marriage’s defenders, responded to the New Mexico ruling by acknowledging the trend and encouraging his allies.

“It seems that every week there comes a new development on the marriage debate, and New Mexico is the latest,” said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. “We should steel our resolve to articulate a biblical vision of marriage, to love our neighbors who disagree with us and to fight and contend for God’s purpose for marriage, the family and for religious liberty in these changing times.”

The battle over what constitutes legal marriage will continue elsewhere in the country. The issue is in the courts in several states, and gay marriage advocates are seeking electoral or legislative victories in others. Through 2016, the Human Rights Campaign — the country’s largest political organization promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights — has targeted Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon at the ballot box or in the legislature.

The 17 states that have legalized same-sex marriage generally are located in three sections of the country, plus Hawaii: The Northeast (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont); Midwest (Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota); and West (California, New Mexico and Washington). In addition, the District of Columbia has approved same-sex marriage.

Before Hawaii, Illinois and New Mexico, same-sex marriage also became legal during 2013 in California, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Gay-marriage proponents recognized the significance of the latest victory, as well as the others that have preceded it in recent years.

“The past few years have seen an amazing show of support for the freedom to marry for all loving and committed couples,” said Elizabeth Gill, staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project.

In November, Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of communications and marketing, told supporters in an email, “LGBT equality advanced more in 2013 than in any other year and at a pace never before seen.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Walker, the ERLC’s director of policy studies and another defender of biblical marriage, said after Hawaii and Illinois legalized gay unions, “No one denies that the wind is to the backs of the marriage revisionist movement, and this will likely continue for some time. Some knees may buckle if cultural fame is what you’re striving after, but what matters right now — as it has for all times — is that Christians bear witness to the truth, despite uncomfortable circumstances.”

The New Mexico high court’s ruling came as no surprise. In August, it rejected the religious free exercise arguments of Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin, a Christian couple who operate a photography business. The justices ruled the Huguenins violated the state’s ban on sexual orientation discrimination by refusing to photograph a same-sex ceremony.

That decision demonstrated one of the byproducts of the growing legalization of gay marriage: the loss of freedom to exercise religious beliefs by citizens who believe marriage is only between a man and a woman. Photographers, bakers and others who have refused to participate in same-sex ceremonies because of their Christian convictions have lost in court or suffered financially despite their appeals to the right to exercise their religion.

— Tom Strode is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press. Art Toalston contributed to this report.

Tom Strode is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press. Art Toalston contributed to this report.