60 Percent Of Americans Soon Will Live In States With Marriage Equality

The Supreme Court on Monday set the United States on a historic civil rights path, paving the way for the majority of Americans to reside in states where same-sex marriage is legal.

The court declined to hear appeals from five states that were challenging lower-court rulings legalizing same-sex marriage. By passing on that debate, the court gave a final legal stamp of approval to marriage equality in five states: Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin. It also set the stage for legalization in six other states that also fall under the lower courts’ jurisdiction: Colorado, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

When all is said and done in those states (which could happen in short order, according to the Associated Press), same-sex marriage will be legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

The total population of those states, based on 2013 estimates from the Census Bureau, is about 190 million. Just over 60 percent of the U.S. population now lives in a state where marriage equality soon will be legal.

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