Gallup estimates that nearly 100,000 same-sex weddings have taken place since the Obergefell ruling, pushing the total number of Americans in a same-sex marriage to nearly one million. They report:
The practical legal impact of the Obergefell decision was to invalidate laws in 13 states that did not recognize same-sex marriages. Since then, the percentage of same-sex married couples increased from 26% to 31% in those states. Prior to Obergefell, states that did not recognize or conduct marriages of same-sex couples still had same-sex married couples residing there. But those couples either married elsewhere or considered themselves married even if the state did not. Those spouses’ rights were enhanced by the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in U.S. v. Windsor that ensured the federal government would recognize marriages of same-sex couples even in states where such marriages were not recognized by the state.
But states whose laws were not affected by the Obergefell ruling have also seen a notable increase in same-sex marriages over the last four months. Currently, 49% of same-sex couples living together in states where same-sex marriages were already legal report being married, compared with 42% prior to the decision. That means same-sex couples living together in these states are now as likely to be married as not married.
Overall, 3.9% of all Americans identify as LGBT, and 0.4% of all Americans are in a same-sex marriage. The latter figure is up from 0.3% before the ruling. Those figures can be used to estimate that there are now approximately 972,000 Americans in a same-sex marriage, up from approximately 780,000 before the ruling. Put differently, there are now approximately 486,000 same-sex marriages in the U.S., compared with approximately 390,000 four months ago.Incredible.
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