A review of the effects of legal access to same-sex marriage

Abstract

On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court extended nationwide legal access to same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, following a series of court cases and legislative activities at the state and district levels. Similar policies have diffused throughout other countries, especially in western Europe and the Americas. Researchers have used the staggered rollout of legal same-sex marriage and related policies in the U.S. and elsewhere, along with improved data on lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, to study the effects of marriage equality. In this paper, we review this evidence, focusing on outcomes such as societal attitudes, marriage take-up, family formation, employment, time use, health insurance coverage, and health. We discuss conceptual frameworks for understanding the likely effects of same-sex marriage; methodological considerations for studying treatment effects; the policy context surrounding legal same-sex marriage, including the 2023 Respect for Marriage Act; and important areas for future research.