Legal Issues & Same Sex Marriage in the USA

The legal issues surrounding same-sex marriage in the United States are complicated by the nation's federal system of government. Traditionally, the federal government did not attempt to establish its own definition of marriage; any marriage recognized by a state was recognized by the federal government, even if that marriage was not recognized by one or more other states (as was the case with interracial marriage before 1967 due to anti-miscegenation laws). With the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, however, a marriage was explicitly defined as a union of one man and one woman for the purposes of federal law. Thus, no act or agency of the federal government currently recognizes same-sex marriage. However there are 3 states that Same Sex Marraige is legal, and they are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont on September 1, 2009.