Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

WASHINGTON, JUNE 23, 2004—You’re on deadline and you need to find out—quickly, of course—how many states have constitutional amendments defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. You also need to know how many states are considering whether to add such an amendment. Where do you turn?

To The Heritage Foundation’s online database “Marriage in the 50 States.” Type heritage.org/Research/Family/Marriage50States.cfm into your Web browser, and you’ll find the answers you need to these and a host of other questions. The database features a clickable map that enables you to find out what a particular state has done—or is trying to do—to protect the traditional definition of marriage.

Say you want to know more about marriage-protection efforts in California. One click and you can see that, in 2000, legislators there passed a law that recognizes only marriages that occur between a man and a woman. Have they passed a law that would void same-sex marriages? No. Do they recognize same-sex marriages from other states? No. Do they define “spouse” as referring only to a person of the opposite sex? No.

If a state has passed a law regarding marriage, reporters and editors won’t need to guess about its meaning: The exact wording of the statute is reproduced.

The database also includes links to each state’s government Web site. It lists both senators for each state, how that lawmaker has voted (if at all) on marriage legislation, a link to each senator’s Web site, and links for more information about legal activity in the state.