Today is June 26,
which some people are calling #EqualityDay, since it is the anniversary of numerous landmark Supreme Court decisions that have expanded equal rights for LGBT citizens. The most recent are 2015's
Obergefell v. Hodges, which resulted in the dissolution of all the remaining state-based prohibitions on marriage equality, and 2013's
U.S. v. Windsor which struck down the section of the so-called federal Defense of Marriage Act that had barred the U.S. government from recognizing legally married same-sex couples and 2013's
Hollingsworth v. Perry which invalidated California's Proposition 8, restoring marriage equality to the nation's largest state. Amazingly, June 26, 2003 was the day that
Lawrence v. Texas was announced which struck down the last remaining state laws criminalizing consensual homosexual relations between adults. June 26 is a important day in the history of LGBT equality!
The Williams Institute
has analyzed the impact of these decisions and
these results can be summarized as:
- As of June 2017, nearly 1.1 million LGBT
people in the United States are married to
someone of the same sex, implying that
more than 547,000 same-sex couples are
married nationwide.
- Since Obergefell, at least 157,000 same-sex
couples married.
- Since Windsor, at least 317,000 same-sex
couples married.
- 10.2% of
LGBT adults are married to someone of the
same sex (Source: Gallup)
Gallup also notes that the latest data indicates that 4.3% of U.S. adults identify as LGBT and that even today in 2017, a larger percentage (13.1%) of LGBT people are married to someone of the opposite-sex. More men (11.4%) than women (9.3%) are married to a same-sex spouse.
Happy LGBT #EqualityDay!
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