Same-sex marriage

==Terminology==
===Alternative terms===
[[File:Wedding in New Orleans, November 11, 2017.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Two men marry, surrounded by wedding party, in [[New Orleans]], United States on 11 November 2017]]
Some proponents of the legal recognition of same-sex marriage—such as [[Marriage Equality USA]] (founded in 1998), [[Freedom to Marry]] (founded in 2003), [[Canadians for Equal Marriage]], and [[List of LGBT-related organizations and conferences#Japan|Marriage for All Japan]] - used the terms ''marriage equality'' and ''equal marriage'' to signal that their goal was for same-sex marriage to be recognized on equal ground with opposite-sex marriage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marriage Equality |url=http://www.gardenstateequality.org/issues/marriageequality/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018065055/http://www.gardenstateequality.org/issues/marriageequality/ |archive-date=18 October 2014 |access-date=24 July 2012 |publisher=Garden State Equality}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Marriage 101 |url=http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pages/marriage-101#faq3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216021129/http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pages/marriage-101#faq3 |archive-date=16 February 2010 |access-date=28 September 2012 |publisher=[[Freedom to Marry]]}}</ref><ref name="Pratt">{{Cite news |last=Pratt, Patricia |date=29 May 2012 |title=Albany area real estate and the Marriage Equality Act |work=Albany Examiner |url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:AENN&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=13F21B414EDA8168&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0FB3382EE6AD1E46 |access-date=25 December 2012 |quote=On July 24, 2011 the Marriage Equality Act became a law in New York State forever changing the state's legal view of what a married couple is.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=13 December 2012 |title=Vote on Illinois marriage equality bill coming in January: sponsors |work=Chicago Phoenix |url=http://chicagophoenix.com/2012/12/13/illinois-marriage-equality-vote-january |url-status=live |access-date=23 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121226111510/http://chicagophoenix.com/2012/12/13/illinois-marriage-equality-vote-january/ |archive-date=26 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mulholland |first=Helene |date=27 September 2012 |title=Ed Miliband calls for gay marriage equality |work=The Guardian |location=London, UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/27/ed-miliband-gay-wedding-equality |url-status=live |access-date=23 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928234116/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/27/ed-miliband-gay-wedding-equality |archive-date=28 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="Ring">{{Cite news |last=Ring, Trudy |date=20 December 2012 |title=Newt Gingrich: Marriage Equality Inevitable, OK |work=The Advocate |location=Los Angeles |url=http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2012/12/20/newt-gingrich-accepts-marriage-equality-inevitable |url-status=live |access-date=25 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223062417/http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2012/12/20/newt-gingrich-accepts-marriage-equality-inevitable |archive-date=23 December 2012 |quote=He [Newt Gingrich] noted to HuffPo that he not only has a lesbian half-sister, LGBT rights activist [[Candace Gingrich]], but has gay friends who've gotten married in Iowa, where their unions are legal. Public opinion has shifted in favor of marriage equality, he said, and the Republican Party could end up on the wrong side of history if it continues to go against the tide.}}</ref> The [[Associated Press]] recommends the use of ''same-sex marriage'' over ''gay marriage''.<ref>{{Cite tweet |number=1095408455479902211 |user=APStylebook |title=The term same-sex marriage is preferred over gay marriage. In places where it's legal, same-sex marriage is no different from other marriages, so the term should be used only when germane and needed to distinguish from marriages between heterosexual couples. #APStyleChat |author=APStylebook |date=12 February 2019 |access-date=13 December 2022 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019190133/https://twitter.com/apstylebook/status/1095408455479902211 |archive-date=19 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> In deciding whether to use the term ''gay marriage'', it may also be noted that not everyone in a same-sex marriage is gay &ndash; for example, some are bisexual &ndash; and therefore using the term ''gay marriage'' is sometimes considered erasure of such people.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/329975/one-lgbt-americans-married-sex-spouse.aspx|title=One in 10 LGBT Americans Married to Same-Sex Spouse|date=24 February 2021|website=Gallup }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://consciousstyleguide.com/when-bisexual-people-marry/|title=When Bisexual People Marry|first=Karen|last=Yin|date=8 March 2016 |website=Conscious Style Guide}}</ref>

===Use of the term ''marriage''===
Anthropologists have struggled to determine a definition of [[marriage]] that absorbs commonalities of the [[Social constructionism|social construct]] across cultures around the world.<ref name="Fedorak">{{Cite book |last=Fedorak |first=Shirley A. |title=Anthropology matters! |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1442601086 |location=[Toronto], Ont. |pages=Ch. 11; p. 174}}</ref><ref name="Gough">{{Cite journal |last=Gough |first=Kathleen E. |date=Jan–Jun 1959 |title=The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage |journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=89 |issue=1 |pages=23–34 |doi=10.2307/2844434 |jstor=2844434}}</ref> Many proposed definitions have been criticized for failing to recognize the existence of same-sex marriage in some cultures, including those of more than 30 [[Ethnic groups in Africa|African peoples]], such as the [[Kikuyu people|Kikuyu]] and [[Nuer people|Nuer]].<ref name=Gough/><ref name="Africa">{{Cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stephen O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjbESL6YWU0C&q=%22Woman-woman+marriage+in+Africa%22&pg=PA255 |title=Boy-wives and female husbands : studies of African homosexualities |last2=Roscoe, Will |publisher=St. Martin's |year=2001 |isbn=978-0312238292 |edition=1st pbk. |location=New York |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204174244/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjbESL6YWU0C&q=%22Woman-woman+marriage+in+Africa%22&pg=PA255 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kikuyu">{{Cite journal |last1=Njambi |first1=Wairimu |last2=O'Brien, William |date=Spring 2001 |title=Revisiting "Woman-Woman Marriage": Notes on Gikuyu Women |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/nwsa_journal/v012/12.1njambi.html |url-status=live |journal=[[NWSA Journal]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–23 |doi=10.1353/nwsa.2000.0015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113015023/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Fnwsa_journal%2Fv012%2F12.1njambi.html |archive-date=13 January 2012 |access-date=28 September 2012 |s2cid=144520611}}</ref>

With several countries revising their marriage laws to recognize same-sex couples in the 21st century, all major English dictionaries have revised their definition of the word marriage to either drop gender specifications or supplement them with secondary definitions to include gender-neutral language or explicit recognition of same-sex unions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 May 2004 |title=Dictionaries take lead in redefining modern marriage |work=[[The Washington Times]] |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/may/24/20040524-103201-1169r |url-status=live |access-date=25 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918034452/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/may/24/20040524-103201-1169r/ |archive-date=18 September 2012}}</ref><ref name="ABA">{{Cite web |title=Webster Makes It Official: Definition of Marriage Has Changed |url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/webster_makes_it_official_definition_of_marriage_has_changed |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427004101/http://www.abajournal.com/news/webster_makes_it_official_definition_of_marriage_has_changed |archive-date=27 April 2015 |access-date=28 September 2012 |publisher=[[American Bar Association]]}}</ref> The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' has recognized same-sex marriage since 2000.<ref name="slate">{{Cite news |last=Redman |first=Daniel |date=7 April 2009 |title=Noah Webster Gives His Blessing: Dictionaries recognize same-sex marriage—who knew? |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2215628 |url-status=live |access-date=28 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917032021/http://www.slate.com/id/2215628/ |archive-date=17 September 2011}}</ref>

Opponents of same-sex marriage who want marriage to be restricted to pairings of a man and a woman, such as [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], the [[Catholic Church]], and the [[Southern Baptist Convention]], use the term ''traditional marriage'' to mean opposite-sex marriage.<ref name="religion">{{Cite web |date=13 August 2008 |title=The Divine Institution of Marriage |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/the-divine-institution-of-marriage |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611071837/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/the-divine-institution-of-marriage |archive-date=11 June 2019 |access-date=28 September 2012 |publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]}}</ref>