THE US SUPREME Court will today continue to hear arguments in landmark cases involving gay marriage.
As supporters of sex-sex marriage took to the streets with banners and flags calling for the repeal of Proposition 8 in California, the Associated Press examined the issue by numbers:
9,000,000: the number of Americans who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (2011 figures from UCLA)
9: the number of states that issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They include Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. The District of Columbia also issues licences.
30: the number of states, including California, which ban same-sex marriage in their state constitutions. Ten states bar them under state laws. New Mexico law is silent on the issue.
8 years and 4 months: the amount of time gay couples have been allowed to marry in Massachusetts, the first state to allow weddings. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in November 2003 that it was unconstitutional to bar same-sex couples from marrying in the state. The court allowed weddings to start 17 May 2004.
49: the percentage of Americans who now favour allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in mid-March. Forty-four percent are opposed.
142: the amount of days in 2008 that gay marriage was legal in California before voters banned it with Proposition 8.
18,000: the number of couples that married in California during the window it was legal.
9: The number of justices on the Supreme Court. Six of the justices are married, all of them to people of the opposite sex. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a widow, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is divorced and Justice Elena Kagan has never married.
Yesterday, justices in the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether same-sex couple have a constitutional right to marry.
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