Same-Sex Marriage Availability Set to Double

Nate Silver: “With the coming resumption of same-sex marriage in California, … the United States will surpass Europe in the availability of same-sex marriage as measured by share of the population. By August, about 95 million Americans out of a population of 314 million – about 30 percent – will live in states where same-sex marriage is legal. In Europe, that number is 169 million residents out of a population of 736 million, or about 23 percent.”

However, Dan Balz notes same-sex marriage “is not legal in more than three dozen states. Many of those states have written the bans into their constitutions. It could take years to change those provisions if the battles are engaged one by one, state by state. Only the Supreme Court could short-circuit that process.”