How to Tell If You Are in a State that Allows Same-Sex Marriage Now: A 4-Point Primer

When the Supreme Court refused to hear gay-marriage appeals Monday from Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin, it set the stage for more states to legalize same-sex marriage. Now the law in over half of the country, marriage equality does not exactly follow a simple red state-blue state formula. In fact, the new landscape of marriage equality looks pretty complicated. Here, as reported by the Washington Post, is a four-point primer on how you can tell if you are in a state that bans or allow same-sex couples to wed.

1. There are 3 red states that voted for Mitt Romney but allow gay marriage

Utah, Oklahoma and Indiana.

2. And 5 dependable Democratic states that voted for Obama in 2012 that still ban gay marriage.

Here's some irony about four of the states that vote Obama but don't allow same-sex marriage: Nevada, where prostitution is legal in some municipalities; Ohio, where the black vote put Obama over the top in 2012; Colorado, where the locals light up sticky green and Maureen Dowd had her candy marijuana meltdown; Michigan, a state that has voted Democrat for the past six Presidenial elections.

3. But still, 21 Obama States do allow gay marriage.

Most of those states are in the northeast. The main west coast states are California, Oregon and Washington.

4. And there are 21 Romney states that don't allow gay marriage.

Most of those states are in the south. The other states that haven't caught up with marriage equality include Montana, Idaho, and the Dakotas.

The Washington Post reports that the number of states that could legalize gay marriage may soon reach 30. Some same-sex advocates wanted the Court to hear the cases so that it could rule on the constitutionality of marriage in all 50 states.

Marriage quality still has a ways to go, but advocates are now saying that all 50 states may allow same-sex marriage sooner than expected.