* The first-same sex marriages in America took place in Massachusetts in 2004, a year after the state's highest court ruled that a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
* Forty-two U.S. states have laws explicitly prohibiting such marriages, including 29 with constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group.
* The New York State Assembly passed a bill on May 12 to legalize gay marriage but it faces an uncertain future in the state Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.
* The U.S. Supreme Court has not taken a case on gay marriage, leaving states to decide the issue. But eight same-sex couples who married in Massachusetts and three gay widowers filed a lawsuit on March 3 seeking access to federal protections and programs granted to straight married couples.
[mais factos na Reuters]
* Forty-two U.S. states have laws explicitly prohibiting such marriages, including 29 with constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group.
* The New York State Assembly passed a bill on May 12 to legalize gay marriage but it faces an uncertain future in the state Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.
* The U.S. Supreme Court has not taken a case on gay marriage, leaving states to decide the issue. But eight same-sex couples who married in Massachusetts and three gay widowers filed a lawsuit on March 3 seeking access to federal protections and programs granted to straight married couples.
