Marriage & Relationship Recognition Laws

Kansas permits faith-based organizations to deny services to married same-sex couples. North Carolina permits state officials to decline to marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove. Mississippi passed a law in 2016 permitting state officials to decline to marry couples of whose marriage they disapprove; H.B. 1523 (2016); this law has been challenged and overturned by a federal court and is currently stayed from enforcement. For additional information, contact Freedom to Marry, Lambda Legal, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders or ACLU LGBT Rights Project.

Additionally, several Native American jurisdictions extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. These jurisdictions are federally recognized sovereign nations and therefore can create their own policies around same-sex partnerships. The following is a list of Native American nations that have legalized same-sex marriage followed by the year in which the ruling was made. Several nations passed laws to offer the freedom to marry, whereas others have issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on a reinterpretation of tribal codes. For more information please see: NativeOut

• The Coquille Tribe in Oregon (2009)
• The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe in Connecticut (2010)
• The Suquamish Tribe in Washington (2011)
• The Tribal Council of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan (2013)
• The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in Michigan (2013)
• The Santa Ysabel Tribe in California (2013)
• The Colville Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nation in Washington (2013)
• The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma (2013)
• The Leech Lake Tribal Court in Minnesota (2013)
• The Puyallup Tribe in Washington (2014)
• Tlingit and Haida Tribes in Alaska (2015)
• The Oneida Tribe in Wisconsin (2015)
• The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Michigan (2015)
• The Cherokee Nation (2016)