Whats the federal law on same-sex marriage?
In the United States, same-sex marriage lacks full legal recognition in all 50 states. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which changed the federal definition of marriage to exclude same-sex couples. What’s Washington law on same-sex marriages? Washington’s marriage definition says: “Marriage is a civil contract between a male and a female who have each attained the age of eighteen years, and who are otherwise capable.” Marriages are prohibited when either party has a wife or husband living at the time of such marriage; when the husband and wife are closer in relation than second cousins; or when the parties are other than a male and a female. So what does Canada’s law say now? The recent court ruling changed the wording of the Canadian marriage definition from “the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman” to “the voluntary union for life of two persons.” What do other countries do? Belgium and the Netherlands are the only other countries that reco
