Same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania

Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Pennsylvania since May 20, 2014, when a U.S. federal district court judge ruled that the Commonwealth's 1996 statutory ban on recognizing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The state had prohibited recognition of same-sex marriage by statute since 1996. It had never added such a ban to its state constitution.

The state has never recognized civil unions or domestic partnerships and was the last state in the Northeast region where same-sex couples could not legally marry.

In September 1996, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved Representative Allan Egolf's (R-Perry) amendment to ban the performance and recognition of same-sex marriage by a vote of 177 to 16, after an effort to rule it unconstitutional failed by a vote of 171 to 29. The Senate passed the legislation on October 1 by a vote of 43 to 5.Republican Governor Tom Ridge signed the amendment into law.

Several attempts to recognize same-sex marriages failed in the state legislature, but failed while Republican Party had majorities in either the State Senate or House of Representatives.

On May 8, 1996, Egolf introduced HB 2604 in the House that would ban same-sex marriages and refuse to recognize marriages performed in other states. The bill bypassed the House Judiciary Committee in the hopes of speeding its passage before the next election. On June 28, the House considered a bill to amend Pennsylvania's Domestic Relations Act to allow for grandparents to adopt grandchildren over the objections of their parents. Representative Egolf introduced an amendment to this bill that paralleled his anti-marriage bill. The Republican-controlled House voted to add this anti-marriage amendment to the adoption bill. The vote on the amendment was 177-16. The bill, which had already passed the State Senate, was sent back for a concurrence vote. After this vote, the House recessed for the summer. On October 1, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 43-5 to concur with the anti-marriage language added by the House. Governor Ridge signed the act into law on October 8.

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