Gay marriage laws around the country

Here's a look at attitudes and laws about gay marriage locally and around the country:

State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Delaware/Montgomery, and state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Center City, proposed same-sex marriage bills in 2009, but both stalled in committee.

Ultraconservative state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, proposed an amendment to the state Constitution last year to officially ban same-sex marriage, but that stalled as well.

A recent Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll showed that 52 percent of Pennsylvanians feel that gay marriage should be legal, while 37 percent believed it should not and 9 percent said they were unsure.

In 2006, New Jersey signed into law a bill legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples.

Elsewhere, around the country:

Same-sex marriage is legal in six states, including New York, which legalized it in June.

Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to give same-sex marriage licenses in 2004.

Massachusetts offers licenses to both in-state and out-of-state couples.

Maryland recently enacted a law that will allow same-sex marriage starting Jan. 1, but it will be voted on by voters in November. A Washington Post poll in early 2012 showed that more than half of adults in Maryland supported gay marriage.

Same-sex marriage is also legal in Delaware, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa and Washington, D.C.

California has been a battleground state for same-sex marriage since the Proposition 8 controversy in 2008. In 2010 a U.S. District Court judge declared Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Ahead of an anticipated appeal, the state hasn't yet started issuing same-sex marriage licenses again. n

— Morgan Zalot