Arizona Gay Marriage Statistics & Facts

Gay Marriage In Arizona

Arizona is hot, but we’re not only talking about the weather. The Arizona gay marriage scene is one of the hottest in America. So many individuals have married in the past few years due to the acceptance that Arizona as a state has shown and there are more supporters now than ever, which means that it is a very exciting time for the Arizona LGBT community. A lot of people are more comfortable being themselves on an everyday basis that it seems like the gay population has doubled, and maybe has tripled in size!

Arizona Gay Marriage History

In 1975,The Arizona Legislature passed an emergency bill defining marriage as a “Union between a man and a woman". They passed this emergency bill because a marriage license was given to a same-sex couple. In ’96, the state of Arizona banned getting married outside of the state, and coming back in. It’s said that Governor Fife Symington was voted into office because his opponent supported same-sex marriage. He is the one who signed this bill into law. On November 7th, 2006, the voters of Florida defeated Proposition 107, which was a constitutional amendment that had banned same-sex marriage rights and anything even close to it. On May 12th, 2008, the Arizona house of reps voted 33-25 in favor of Proposition 102, which states that marriage was only between a man and woman. In June the same year, the amendment as passed. On November 4th, the Arizona population voted to pass Proposition 102 by only 4%. On May 12th, 2013, Equal Marriage Arizona presented the state of Florida with the choice to vote for or against a gender-neutral definition of marriage instead of the definition wrote in the state constitution. This didn’t end up happening. They waited for the presidential election to see where things were going.

A lot has gone on and is still happening concerning Arizona gay marriage, the past contains tons of heartbreaking stories and the present contains hope. Before any state in the United States legalized gay marriage, terrible things were happened for simply being gay. For loving who you loved, there was hate that came with it. In Arizona, there was definitely a lot of hatred towards gay, and to this day, sadly still is. We still have a long, long way to go until things are truly equal among law and the people. Men and women were humiliated and hurt for being who they were and patronized for how they felt. Not too long ago, gay men and women were given punishment for being the way they are. If they were caught showing any kind of love to their partner, they would be punished in either a verbal or violent way. It is sad that straight people can walk around holding hands and kiss without anyone staring or treating them unfairly. Staring isn’t even the bad part. Being straight is “normal" in many people’s eyes, but being a part of the LGBT community isn’t. People tend to hate what they don’t understand and since there were a lot of people who didn’t look at the same-sex the type of way that they looked at the opposite sex, they didn’t understand how gay people felt and smashed them for it because they thought that they were different and wrong for thinking the way they did. The bottom line is that you don’t choose to be straight, so when do people choose to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transexual? They don’t and that’s what wasn’t understood back when people were getting beaten for their sexual orientation.

Arizona Gay Marriage Statistics

There are more than 25,000 happily married same-sex couples residing in Arizona today. It may not seem like a lot, but it also hasn’t been very long since gay marriage was legalized in Arizona. 16,000 married, same-sex couples have adopted children. Gay couples in a domestic partnership are less likely to adopt. Only 8,000 same-sex couples who are in domestic partnerships have adopted children. 4,700 gay couples in Arizona have hired surrogates to hold their children, and only 900 same-sex couples who are in a domestic partnership have gotten a surrogate.

Current Status Of Arizona Gay Marriage

In the summer of 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that all states must grant the right to all same-sex couples wanting to marry. It feels as if the war is over, but there are still underlying issues to deal with. There are still thousands of voices saying that marriage is only between a woman and man and do not wish to open their minds. Even after passing this law, there has been more and more discrimination - even from businesses with a religious background. Though there is still hate, there are also many things that Arizona is doing in order to welcome the LGBT community and make everyone feel welcome and equal. In 2008, Arizona began giving same-sex couples (where one of both partners are state employees) health benefits. There are countless amounts of events dedicated to the LGBT Arizona community, and there are also gay wedding planners and all the works. Even though things aren’t where they should be when it comes to acceptance, there are more than enough things to do and places to go where you can feel accepted.

Arizona Gay Weddings

When you visit gayarizona.com, you will learn how many services are available for you and your partner’s gay wedding ceremony, reception and honeymoon. Arizona has tons of exciting offers for you. Ten years ago, there is no way you would see all of this help for your gay wedding. There are so many services to choose from which makes it so easy to plan the perfect wedding of your dreams.

The Future Status Of Arizona Gay Marriage

Gay Marriage in Arizona is looking up! There are still problems today with Arizona and same-sex marriage with the people, but the fact that it is now legal, means that things are going to start moving at a very rapid pace. By seeing same-sex couples from day to day, it will help people understand that everyone deserves to be with the person they love. Arizona will continue growing as a state when it comes to its views on same-sex marriage and one day seeing a gay couple on the street will be second nature.