Same-sex marriages rose rapidly last year
By mid-December 2013, gay and lesbian couples could count eight states that had approved same-sex marriages through court rulings or legislative action that year.
Then two western states joined the group, bringing the national total to 18 states (including the District of Columbia) offering “marriage equality”:
• On December 19, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the state may not curtail the freedom of same-sex couples to wed. The justices had been asked for a statewide ruling because eight New Mexico counties had recently started issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples; the state never had a law banning gay or lesbian marriages.
