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Same-sex marriage in the United States

The availability of legally recognized same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state (Massachusetts) in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015 through various court rulings, state legislation, and direct popular votes. States each have separate marriage laws, which must adhere to rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States that recognize marriage as a fundamental right guaranteed by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as first established in the 1967 landmark civil rights case of Loving v. Virginia.

Civil rights campaigning in support of marriage without distinction as to sex or sexual orientation began in the 1970s. In 1972, the now overturned Baker v. Nelson saw the Supreme Court of the United States decline to become involved. The issue became prominent from around 1993, when the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled in Baehr v. Lewin that it was unconstitutional under the Constitution of Hawaii for the state to abridge marriage on the basis of sex. That ruling led to federal and state actions to explicitly abridge marriage on the basis of sex in order to prevent the marriages of same-sex couples from being recognized by law, the most prominent of which was the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Constitution of Massachusetts for the state to abridge marriage on the basis of sex. From 2004 through to 2015, as the tide of public opinion continued to move towards support of same-sex marriage, various state court rulings, state legislation, direct popular votes (referendums and initiatives), and federal court rulings established same-sex marriage in thirty-six of the fifty states.

The most prominent supporters of same-sex marriage are human rights and civil rights organizations, while the most prominent opponents are religious groups, though some religious organizations support marriage equality. The first two decades of the 21st century saw same-sex marriage receive support from prominent figures in the civil rights movement, including Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Julian Bond, and Mildred Loving. In May 2012, the NAACP, the leading African-American civil rights organization, declared its support for same-sex marriage and stated that it is a civil right.

In June 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down DOMA for violating the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the landmark civil rights case of United States v. Windsor, leading to federal recognition of same-sex marriage, with federal benefits for married couples connected to either the state of residence or the state in which the marriage was solemnized. In June 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in the landmark civil rights case of Obergefell v. Hodges that the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples, with all the accompanying rights and responsibilities, is guaranteed by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. On December 13, 2022, DOMA was repealed and replaced by the Respect for Marriage Act, which recognizes and protects same-sex and interracial marriages under federal law and in interstate relations.

Gallup found that nationwide public support for same-sex marriage reached 50% in 2011, 60% in 2015, and 70% in 2021. In the 2020 United States census, same-sex married couples accounted for 0.5% of all U.S. households while unmarried same-sex couples accounted for 0.4% of all U.S. households.

A study of nationwide data from January 1999 to December 2015 revealed that the establishment of same-sex marriage is associated with a significant reduction in the rate of attempted suicide among teens, with the effect being concentrated among teens of a minority sexual orientation, resulting in approximately 134,000 fewer teens attempting suicide each year in the United States.

History
The history of same-sex marriage in the United States dates from the early 1970s, when the first lawsuits seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention, though they proved unsuccessful. The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Miike that suggested the possibility that the state's prohibition might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples, notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state and the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage following the Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health six months earlier. Just as with the Hawaii decision, the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts provoked a reaction from opponents that resulted in further legal restrictions being written into state statutes and constitutions. The movement to obtain marriage rights for same-sex couples expanded steadily from that time until, in late 2014, lawsuits had been brought in every state that still denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

By late 2014, same-sex marriage had become legal in states that contained more than 70% of the United States population. In some jurisdictions, legalization came through the action of state courts or the enactment of state legislation. More frequently, it came as the result of the decisions of federal courts. On November 6, 2012, Maine, Maryland, and Washington became the first states to legalize same-sex marriage through popular vote. Same-sex marriage had been legalized in the District of Columbia and 21 Native American tribal nations as well.

The June 2013 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor striking down the law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage gave significant impetus to the progress of lawsuits that challenged state bans on same-sex marriage in federal court. Since that decision, with only a few exceptions, U.S. District Courts and Courts of Appeals have found state bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, as have several state courts. The exceptions have been a state court in Tennessee, U.S. district courts in Louisiana and Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals from that circuit's decision.

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the case Obergefell v. Hodges. The United States was the seventeenth country in the world and the second in North America after Canada, to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.

Legal issues

The legal issues surrounding same-sex marriage in the United States are determined by the nation's federal system of government, in which the status of a person, including marital status, is determined in large measure by the individual states. Prior to 1996, the federal government did not define marriage; any marriage recognized by a state was recognized, even if that marriage was not recognized by one or more states, as was the case until 1967 with interracial marriage, which some states banned by statute.

Prior to 2004, same-sex marriage was not performed or recognized in any U.S. jurisdiction, but subsequently began to be performed and recognized by law in different jurisdictions through legislation, court rulings, tribal council rulings, and popular referendums.

The Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges ended all inter-state legal complications surrounding same-sex marriage, as it orders states to both perform the marriages of same-sex couples and to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in other states.

Federal law
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2004, 1,138 federal rights and protections are conferred to U.S. citizens upon marriage; areas affected include Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration law.

Since July 9, 2015, married same-sex couples throughout the United States have had equal access to all the federal benefits that married opposite-sex couples have.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was enacted in 1996. DOMA's Section 2 says that no state needs to recognize the legal validity of a same-sex relationship even if recognized as marriage by another state. It purports to relieve a state of its reciprocal obligation to honor the laws of other states as required by the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause. Even before DOMA, however, states sometimes refused to recognize a marriage from another jurisdiction if it was counter to its "strongly held public policies". Most lawsuits that sought to require a state to recognize a marriage established in another jurisdiction argue on the basis of equal protection and due process, not the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

DOMA's Section 3 defined marriage for the purposes of federal law as a union of one man and one woman. It was challenged in the federal courts. On July 8, 2010, Judge Joseph Tauro of the District Court of Massachusetts held that the denial of federal rights and benefits to lawfully married Massachusetts same-sex couples is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Beginning in 2010, eight federal courts found DOMA Section 3 unconstitutional in cases involving bankruptcy, public employee benefits, estate taxes, and immigration. On October 18, 2012, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals became the first court to hold sexual orientation to be a quasi-suspect classification and applied intermediate scrutiny to strike down Section 3 of DOMA as unconstitutional in Windsor v. United States. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Windsor on June 26, 2013, that Section 3 violated the Fifth Amendment.

As a result of the Windsor decision, married same-sex couples—regardless of domicile—have federal tax benefits (including the ability to file joint federal income tax returns), military benefits, federal employment benefits, and immigration benefits. In February 2014, the Justice Department expanded federal recognition of same-sex marriages to include bankruptcies, prison visits, survivor benefits and refusing to testify against a spouse. Likewise in June 2014, family medical leave benefits under the Family Medical Leave Act 1975 were extended to married same-sex couples. With respect to social security and veterans benefits, same-sex married couples are eligible for full benefits from the Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Prior to the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, the VA and SSA could provide only limited benefits to married same-sex couples living in states where same-sex marriage was not legal. Effective March 27, 2015, the definition of spouse under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 includes employees in a same-sex marriage regardless of state of residence. Following the Obergefell decision, the Justice Department extended all federal marriage benefits to married same-sex couples nationwide.

The federal government recognizes the marriages of same-sex couples who married in certain states in which same-sex marriage was legal for brief periods between the time a court order allowed such couples to marry and that court order was stayed, including Michigan. It also recognized marriages performed in Utah from December 20, 2013, to January 6, 2014, even while the state didn't. Under similar circumstances, it never took a position on Indiana or Wisconsin's marriages performed in brief periods, though it did recognize them once the respective states announced they would do so. It had not taken a position with respect to similar marriages in Arkansas prior to the Obergefell decision legalizing and recognizing same-sex marriages in all fifty states. The State Marriage Defense Act was proposed in Congress to force the federal government to follow individual state laws regarding same-sex marriage although it never passed either chamber.

Opponents of same-sex marriage have worked to prevent individual states from recognizing same-sex unions by attempting to amend the United States Constitution to restrict marriage to heterosexual unions. In 2006, the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have prohibited states from recognizing same-sex marriages, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote and was debated by the full Senate, but was ultimately defeated in both houses of Congress. On April 2, 2014, the Alabama House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to propose an amendment to ban same-sex marriage nationwide.

In 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas named Obergefell v. Hodges as a case that should be revisited in his concurrence of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which had overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey on the basis that abortion protection was not a "deeply rooted" right in the Constitution. To prevent the loss of the right to same-sex marriage, the House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act which would nullify DOMA and protect existing same-sex and interracial marriage licenses. In July, the bill passed 267–157, with 47 Republican representatives joining the Democrats. In December, the Senate passed the bill 61–36, and the House again voted 258–169 to pass it. President Joe Biden signed it into law on December 13, 2022.

State and territorial recognition
Same-sex marriages are licensed in and recognized by all U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as all U.S. territories except American Samoa. However, under the Respect for Marriage Act, American Samoa must recognize all marriages between two people that were legally performed in another jurisdiction.

On January 6, 2016, Alabama's Chief Justice, Roy Moore, issued a ruling forbidding state officials from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The ruling had no effect as all Alabama counties continued either issuing marriage licenses to all couples or not issuing licenses at all. In May 2016, Moore was charged with ethics violations by the state Judicial Inquiry Commission for the ruling, subsequently being suspended from the bench for the remainder of his term on September 30 of that year.

Counties not issuing marriage licenses
As of 2020, there are apparently no counties in the United States that do not (or would not) register the marriages of same-sex couple.
 * Officials of one Texas county, Irion, issued marriage licenses, but claimed they would refuse same-sex couples. Starting in 2017, they refused to comment on what they would do if a same-sex couple were to apply for license. However, as of March 2020, the Irion County clerk stated she would issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and the form available on the office's website was not gender specific and stated no restrictions as to the genders of the applicants.
 * Officials in several Alabama counties initially stopped issuing any marriage licenses rather than issue them to same-sex couples. By 2017, the number of counties doing this to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples dropped to eight. This was in accordance with a state law, which was passed in 1961 to preserve racial segregation by making it optional for county clerks to issue marriage licenses. The Alabama Legislature passed a bill replacing marriage licenses with marriage certificates in May 2019. These final eight counties resumed allowing couples to marry on August 29, 2019.
 * Several Kentucky counties initially refused to marry same-sex couples. In response, Kentucky reformed its marriage license forms and removed the name of the county clerk from the licenses. As of June 2016, Chris Hartmann, director of the Kentucky-based Fairness Campaign, said that to his knowledge "there are no counties where marriage licenses are being denied" in his state.

Parental rights
Post-Obergefell, six states have, on occasion, attempted to deny same-sex couples full adoption rights to varying degrees. In Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, and Wisconsin, same-sex couples have been met with rejection when trying to get both parents' names listed on the birth certificate. In V.L. v. E.L., Alabama's highest court attempted to void an adoption decree obtained by a same-sex couple in Georgia, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed, restoring joint custody to the adoptive mother on March 7, 2016. Mississippi had once banned same-sex couples from adopting, but the law requiring this was ruled unconstitutional by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on March 31, 2016. With that ruling, adoption by same-sex couples became legal in all fifty states.

On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court ruled by a 6–3 vote in the case of Pavan v. Smith that under their decision in Obergefell, same-sex couples must be treated equally to opposite-sex couples in the issuance of birth certificates. In December 2016, the Supreme Court of Arkansas upheld a state law only allowing opposite-sex couples to be automatically listed as parents on their children's birth certificates, while prohibiting same-sex couples from being allowed the same on an equal basis. The Supreme Court summarily reversed the Arkansas Supreme Court, finding that the disparity in treatment violated their decision in Obergefell.

Tribal law
The Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the states and territories did not legalize same-sex marriage in Native American tribal nations. In the United States, Congress (not the federal courts) has legal authority over Native reservations. Thus, unless Congress passes a law regarding same-sex marriage on such reservations, federally recognized Native American tribes have the legal right to form their own marriage laws. As of the time of the Obergefell ruling, 25 tribal nations legally recognized same-sex marriage. Some tribes have passed legislation specifically addressing same-sex relationships and some specify that state law and jurisdiction govern tribal marriages. As of April 2022, same-sex marriage is legally recognized in at least 47 tribal nations.

Local laws prior to Obergefell v. Hodges
Prior to Obergefell, same-sex marriage was legal to at least some degree in thirty-eight states, one territory (Guam) and the District of Columbia; of the states, Missouri, Kansas, and Alabama had restrictions. Until United States v. Windsor, it was only legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Beginning in July 2013, over forty federal and state courts cited Windsor to strike down state bans on the licensing or recognition of same-sex marriage. Missouri recognized same-sex marriages from out of state and same-sex marriages licensed by the City of St. Louis under two separate state court orders; two other jurisdictions issued such licenses as well. In Kansas, marriage licenses were available to same-sex couples in most counties, but the state did not recognize their validity. Some counties in Alabama issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples for three weeks until the state Supreme Court ordered probate judges to stop doing so. That court's ruling did not address the recognition of same-sex marriages already licensed in Alabama, but referred to them as "purported 'marriage licenses. In two additional states, same-sex marriages were previously legal between the time their bans were struck down and then stayed. Michigan recognized the validity of more than 300 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples and those marriages. Arkansas recognized the more than 500 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples there, and the Federal Government had not taken a position on Arkansas's marriage licenses.

''Note: This table shows only states that licensed and recognized same-sex marriages or had legalized them, before Obergefell v. Hodges. It does not include states that recognized same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions but did not license them.''

Support
In the United States and Canada, professional organizations including the American Anthropological Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Nursing, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and the American Academy of Family Physicians have stated that the scientific evidence supports the following conclusions: homosexuality is a natural and normal human sexuality, sexual orientation is not a choice, gay people form stable and committed relationships that are essentially equivalent to the relationships of heterosexuals, same-sex parents are no less capable than opposite-sex parents to raise children, no civilization or viable social order depends on restricting marriage to heterosexuals, and the children of same-sex couples fare just as well or even better than the children of opposite-sex couples.

Prominent figures in the civil rights movement have expressed their support for same-sex marriage. In 2004, Coretta Scott King, a leader of the civil rights movement and the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., expressed her support for same-sex marriage and publicly denounced attempts to define marriage as the "union of a man and a woman" as a form of "gay bashing". In 2007, Mildred Loving, the joint plaintiff alongside her husband Richard Loving in the landmark civil rights case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967, in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all state bans on inter-racial marriage, issued a statement on the 40th anniversary of the ruling in which she expressed her support for same-sex marriage and described it as a civil right akin to inter-racial marriage, stating that "I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry". In 2009, Julian Bond, a leader of the civil rights movement and a chairman of the NAACP, expressed his support for same-sex marriage and stated that "gay rights are civil rights". In 2015, John Lewis, a leader of the civil rights movement and a chairman of the SNCC, welcomed the outcome of the landmark civil rights case of Obergefell v. Hodges in which the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, stating that "races don't fall in love, genders don't fall in love—people fall in love".

The NAACP, the leading African-American civil rights organization, has pledged its support for gay rights and same-sex marriage, stating that they "support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution", and has declared that same-sex marriage is a civil right.

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT rights organization in the United States, states that "many same-sex couples want the right to legally marry because they are in love — many, in fact, have spent the last 10, 20 or 50 years with that person — and they want to honor their relationship in the greatest way our society has to offer, by making a public commitment to stand together in good times and bad, through all the joys and challenges family life brings."

Journalist Gail Mathabane likens prohibitions on same-sex marriage to past prohibitions on interracial marriage in the United States. Author Fernando Espuelas argues that same-sex marriage should be allowed because it recognizes the civil right of a minority. Historian Nancy Cott rejects alternatives to same-sex marriage (such as civil unions), reasoning that "there really is no comparison, because there is nothing that is like marriage except marriage."

Role of social media
Supporters of same-sex marriage successfully utilized social media websites such as Facebook to help achieve their aims. Some have argued that the successful use of social media by LGBT rights organizations played a key role in the defeat of religion-based opposition.

One of the largest scale uses of social media to mobilize support for same-sex marriage preceded and coincided with the arrival at the U.S. Supreme Court of high-profile legal cases for Proposition 8 and DOMA in March 2013. The "red equal sign" project started by the Human Rights Campaign was an electronic campaign primarily based on Facebook that encouraged users to change their profile images to a red equal sign to express support for same-sex marriage. At the time of the court hearings, an estimated 2.5 million Facebook users changed their profile images to a red equal sign.

Opposition
Opposition to same-sex marriage is based on claims such as the beliefs that homosexuality is unnatural and abnormal, that the recognition of same-sex unions will promote homosexuality in society, and that children are better off when raised by opposite-sex couples. While some researchers question the definitiveness of the evidence, others assert that science has shown that homosexuality is a natural and normal human sexuality, that sexual orientation cannot be chosen, and that the children of same-sex couples fare just as well as children of opposite sex couples.

Others argue that the word "marriage" has always had a very specific meaning, i.e. the union of a man and a woman. By this argument, calling same-sex unions "marriages" is not a question of law but an example of Newspeak: same-sex unions are an inherently different entity than a marriage, and that entity has only gained legitimacy through Orwellian brainwashing. Critics of this position counter that historical changes in marriage traditions negate any fixed definition, so the word "marriage" can be infinitely redefined according to the needs of the culture.

Some of the opponents of same-sex marriage are religious groups such as the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention which desire for marriage to remain restricted to opposite-sex marriages. However, there are faith-based supporters of same-sex marriage, and homosexual people of faith, within every faith group. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage but in 2022, endorsed a federal bill requiring states and territories to honor same-sex marriages solemnized in other states (though it reiterated that church doctrine would not change).

Political donations in opposition of same-sex marriage have been an issue of great dispute. Both judges and the IRS have ruled that it is either questionable or illegal for campaign contributions to be shielded by anonymity.

Politicians and media figures
President Barack Obama's views on same-sex marriage varied over the course of his political career and became more consistently supportive of it over time. In the 1990s, he had supported same-sex marriage while campaigning for the Illinois Senate. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he was opposed to same-sex marriage, but he also opposed the 2008 California referendum that aimed at reversing a court ruling establishing same-sex marriage there. In 2009, he opposed two opposing federal legislative proposals that would have banned or established same-sex marriage nationally, stating that each state had to decide the issue. In December 2010, he expressed support for civil unions with rights equivalent to marriage and for federal recognition of same-sex relationships. He opposed a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. He also stated that his position on same-sex marriage was "evolving" and that he recognized that civil unions from the perspective of same-sex couples was "not enough". On May 9, 2012, President Obama became the first sitting president to support same-sex marriage. He still said the legal question belonged to the states. In October 2014, Obama told an interviewer that his view had changed: "Ultimately, I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all fifty states. But, as you know, courts have always been strategic. There have been times where the stars were aligned and the Court, like a thunderbolt, issues a ruling like Brown v. Board of Education [1954], but that's pretty rare. And, given the direction of society, for the Court to have allowed the process to play out the way it has may make the shift less controversial and more lasting."

Shortly after winning the 2016 election, President Donald Trump said he's "fine" with same-sex marriage and believes it to be settled law: "It's law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean, it's done." This somewhat contrasted with a previous statement he made in June 2015, after Obergefell v. Hodges, in which he said he's personally for "traditional marriage" and that he believed same-sex marriage should be left to the states. In that same statement, however, Trump admitted that overturning Obergefell is not realistic. Several of his federal appointments have also, subsequently, announced they will uphold same-sex marriage and enforce the Supreme Court ruling, while still being personally against same-sex marriage, namely Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

Former presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama, former vice presidents Dick Cheney, Al Gore, Walter Mondale, and Joe Biden have voiced their support for same-sex marriage, as have former first ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Nancy Reagan. Former President George H. W. Bush and his wife former First Lady Barbara Bush served as witnesses to a same-sex wedding, but neither publicly affirmed support for same-sex marriage in general; George W. Bush reportedly offered to officiate the same wedding, but has similarly not made a public statement regarding his position on the issue (as president, he was opposed). Fifteen U.S. senators announced their support in the spring of 2013. By April 2013, a majority of the Senate had expressed support for same-sex marriage. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio became the first sitting Republican senator to endorse same-sex marriage in March 2013, followed by Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois in April, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in June, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine a year later.

Politicians who have notably opposed same-sex marriage have included Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, and Sarah Palin.

Prominent politicians who have shifted from opposing to supporting same-sex marriage include Republican Senator Rob Portman, and Republican Representative Bob Barr (the author of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act).

In an interview on The O'Reilly Factor in August 2010, when Glenn Beck was asked if he "believe(s) that gay marriage is a threat to [this] country in any way", he stated, "No I don't. ... I believe that Thomas Jefferson said: 'If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket what difference is it to me?

Studies
The overall effects of legal access to same-sex marriage have been summarized by Badgett and co-authors. The review found that sexual minority individuals took-up legal marriage when it became available to them (but at lower rates than different-sex couples). There is instead no evidence that same-sex marriage legalization affected different-sex marriages. On the health side, same-sex marriage legalization increased health insurance coverage for individuals in same-sex couples in the US, and it led to improvements in sexual health among men who have sex with men, while there is mixed evidence on mental health effects among sexual minorities. In addition, the study found mixed evidence on a range of downstream social outcomes such as attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people and employment choices of sexual minorities.

Adolescent attempted suicide
The establishment of same-sex marriage is associated with a significant reduction in the rate of attempted suicide among teenagers, with the effect being concentrated among teens of a minority sexual orientation. A study of nationwide data from across the United States from January 1999 to December 2015 revealed that the rate of attempted suicide among all students in grades 9–12 declined by 7% and the rate of attempted suicide among those of a minority sexual orientation in grades 9–12 declined by 14% in states which established same-sex marriage, resulting in approximately 134,000 fewer teens attempting suicide each year in the United States. The researchers took advantage of the gradual manner in which same-sex marriage was established in the United States (expanding from one state in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015) to compare the rate of attempted suicide among teens in each state over the time period studied. Once same-sex marriage was established in a particular state, the reduction in the rate of attempted suicide among teens in that state became permanent. No reduction in the rate of attempted suicide among teens occurred in a particular state until that state recognized same-sex marriage. The lead researcher of the study observed that "laws that have the greatest impact on gay adults may make gay kids feel more hopeful for the future".

Economic impact on same-sex couples
Until the Supreme Court's June 2013 ruling in United States v. Windsor required the Federal Government to treat lawfully married same-sex couples on an equal basis with lawfully married opposite-sex couples, same-sex married couples faced severe disadvantages. The Federal Government did not recognize those marriages for any purpose. According to a 1997 General Accounting Office study, at least 1,049 U.S. federal laws and regulations include references to marital status. A 2004 study by the Congressional Budget Office found 1,138 statutory provisions "in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving 'benefits, rights, and privileges. Many of these laws govern property rights, benefits, and taxation. Same-sex couples whose marriages were not recognized by the Federal Government were ineligible for spousal and survivor Social Security benefits and were ineligible for the benefits of the spouse of a federal government employee. One study found that the difference in Social Security income for same-sex couples compared to opposite-sex married couples was US$5,588 per year.

Compared to similarly situated opposite-sex married couples, same-sex couples faced the following financial and legal disadvantages:
 * Legal costs associated with obtaining domestic partner documents to gain legal abilities granted automatically by legal marriage, including power of attorney, health care decision-making, and inheritance
 * A person can inherit an unlimited amount from a deceased spouse without incurring an estate tax, but was subject to taxes if inheriting from a same-sex partner
 * Same-sex couples were not eligible to file jointly as a married couple and thus could not take the advantages of lower tax rates when the individual income of the partners differs significantly
 * Employer-provided health insurance coverage for a same-sex partner incurred federal income tax
 * Higher health costs associated with lack of insurance and preventive care: 20% of same-sex couples had a member who was uninsured compared to 10% of married opposite-sex couples
 * Inability to protect jointly owned home from loss due to costs of potential medical catastrophe
 * Inability of a U.S. citizen to sponsor a same-sex spouse for citizenship

Some 7,400 companies were offering spousal benefits to same-sex couples as of 2008. In states that recognized same-sex marriages, same-sex couples could continue to receive those same benefits only if they married. Only 18% of private employers offered domestic partner health care benefits.

Same-sex couples face the same financial constraints of legal marriage as opposite-sex married couples, including the marriage penalty in taxation. While social service providers usually do not count one partner's assets toward the income means test for welfare and disability assistance for the other partner, a legally married couple's joint assets are normally used in calculating whether a married individual qualifies for assistance.

A 2019 study found an increase in employment among same-sex couples after the legalization of same-sex marriage. The author of the study provided additional evidence suggesting that this change in employment was driven by a decline in discrimination.

Economic impact on the state and federal governments
The 2004 Congressional Budget Office study, working from an assumption "that about 0.6 percent of adults would enter into same-sex marriages if they had the opportunity" (an assumption in which they admitted "significant uncertainty") estimated that legalizing same-sex marriage throughout the United States "would improve the budget's bottom line to a small extent: by less than $1 billion in each of the next 10 years". This result reflects an increase in net government revenues (increased income taxes due to marriage penalties more than offsetting decreased tax revenues arising from postponed estate taxes). Marriage recognition would increase the government expenses for Social Security and Federal Employee Health Benefits but that increase would be more than made up for by decreased expenses for Medicaid, Medicare, and Supplemental Security Income.

According to a study published in May 2020 by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, the legalization of same-sex marriage boosted state and local economies by an estimated 3.8 billion dollars. The Williams Institute estimated that the 300,000 same-sex couples who married in the U.S. since 2015 generated about $3.2 billion for local and state economies. In addition, traveling wedding guests spent an additional $544 million, and about 45,000 jobs were supported by same-sex weddings. $244 million was generated in state and local taxes.

Mental health
Based in part on research that has been conducted on the adverse effects of stigmatization of gays and lesbians, numerous prominent social science organizations have issued position statements supporting same-sex marriage and opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; these organizations include the American Psychoanalytic Association and the American Psychological Association.

Several psychological studies have shown that an increase in exposure to negative conversations, media messages, and negative reactions among peers about same-sex marriage creates a harmful environment for LGBT people that may affect their health and well-being, especially among its younger members.

One study surveyed more than 1,500 lesbian, gay and bisexual adults across the nation and found that respondents from the 25 states that have outlawed same-sex marriage had the highest reports of "minority stress"—the chronic social stress that results from minority-group stigmatization—as well as general psychological distress. According to the study, the negative campaigning that comes with a ban is directly responsible for the increased stress. Past research has shown that minority stress is linked to health risks such as risky sexual behavior and substance abuse.

Two other studies examined personal reports from LGBT adults and their families living in Memphis, Tennessee, immediately after a successful 2006 ballot campaign banned same-sex marriage. Most respondents reported feeling alienated from their communities. The studies also found that families experienced a kind of secondary minority stress, says Jennifer Arm, a counseling graduate student at the University of Memphis.

At the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial, expert witness Ilan Meyer testified that the mental health outcomes for gays and lesbians would improve if laws such as Proposition 8 did not exist because "when people are exposed to more stress...they are more likely to get sick..." and that particular situation is consistent with laws that say to gay people "you are not welcome here, your relationships are not valued." Such laws have "significant power", he said.

Physical health
In 2009, a pair of economists at Emory University tied the passage of state bans on same-sex marriage in the US to an increase in the rates of HIV/AIDS infection. The study linked the passage of same-sex marriage ban in a state to an increase in the annual HIV rate within that state of roughly 4 cases per 100,000 population.

A study by the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health found that gay men in Massachusetts visited health clinics significantly less often following the legalization of same-sex marriage in that state.

In popular culture
The Fox sitcom Roc was the first sitcom to feature a same-sex marriage in 1991. Since then, several shows and series have featured same-sex marriages, including amongst others Married...with Children, Roseanne ("December Bride"), Glee, Friends ("The One with the Lesbian Wedding"), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, The Simpsons ("There's Something About Marrying"), The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Will & Grace, Conan, Steven Universe, Shameless, The Fosters, etc.

The 22nd season premier of the PBS animated-show Arthur featured the marriage of teacher Mr. Ratburn and his male partner. Alabama's public television channel refused to air the episode.

Marriage statistics
There is no complete data on the number of same-sex marriages conducted in the United States. Marriages and divorces are recorded by states, counties, and territories, plus New York City and the District of Columbia, but not by the Federal Government. States such as Oregon do not distinguish between opposite-sex and same-sex marriages in their official records. The legal records on marriage and divorce belong to the states. In August 2016, the Treasury Department estimated the number of same-sex marriages by linking the tax returns of same-sex couples who had filed jointly in 2014 with their Social Security records. (Although this method excluded couples who file singly, these are small in number; of all married couples who file taxes, 97.5% file jointly.) This research showed that in 2014 there were about 183,280 married same-sex couples in the country, or "roughly a third of 1 percent of all marriages" according to The New York Times. Numbers from 2015 showed a large increase to 250,450 marriages. According to Census Bureau data, heterosexual marriages still accounted for about 98 percent of marriages for people under 35 in 2021. According to the statistics, female couples were four times more likely to have children than male couples. Additionally, male couples earned a pretax average of $165,960 per year, while lesbian couples earned $118,415 and straight couples earned $115,210. The highest rates of female same-sex marriage were found in Oakland (2.1% of all marriages), Seattle, San Francisco, Springfield (MA) and Portland (OR), whereas gay male marriages were most frequent in San Francisco (3.2%), Washington D.C., New York City, Seattle and Fort Lauderdale.

The United States Census Bureau has collected data on unmarried same-sex households since 2005. Since 2013 following United States v. Windsor, the Bureau began recording married same-sex households in its Same-Sex Couples report. It recorded about 252,000 same-sex spouses in 2013; 335,000 in 2014; 425,000 in 2015; 487,000 in 2016; 555,000 in 2017; 593,000 in 2018. In 2018, the states of California, Texas and New York had the highest total number of same-sex households, whereas Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota and Connecticut had the most married same-sex households in comparison to unmarried households (92.4% of Wyoming same-sex households were married, followed by Vermont at 79.3%, South Dakota at 77.8% and Connecticut at 70.7%). Nationally, 59.5% of cohabiting same-sex couples were married.

The Population Reference Bureau reported that by October 2015 approximately 486,000 same-sex marriages had taken place in the United States. It estimated that 45% of all same-sex couples in the country were married at that time.

According to Gallup, the percent of cohabiting same-sex couples who are married rose from 38% in 2015 to 49% in 2016 and to 61% in 2017.

Case law
United States federal and state case law regarding same-sex marriage:

1970s

 * Anonymous v. Anonymous, 67 Misc.2d 982 (N.Y. 1971). The law makes no provision for a "marriage" between persons of the same sex.
 * Baker v. Nelson, 191 N.W.2d 185 (Minn. 1971). Upholds a Minnesota law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. (Overruled by Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015; see below)
 * Jones v. Hallahan, 501 S.W.2d 588 (Ky. 1973). Upholds the denial of a marriage license to two women in Kentucky based on dictionary definitions of marriage, despite the fact that state statutes do not specify the gender of marriage partners.
 * Frances B. v. Mark B., 78 Misc.2d 112 (1974). Marriage is and always has been a contract between a man and a woman.
 * Singer v. Hara, 522 P.2d 1187 (Wash. Ct. App. 1974). The historical definition of marriage is between one man and one woman, and same-sex couples are inherently ineligible to marry. This ban does not constitute sex discrimination.

1980s

 * Adams v. Howerton, 673 F.2d 1036 (9th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 458 U.S. 1111. A same-sex marriage does not make one a "spouse" under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
 * De Santo v. Barnsley, 476 A.2d 952 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984). Same-sex couples cannot divorce because they cannot form a common law marriage.

1990s

 * In re Estate of Cooper, 149 Misc.2d 282 (Sur. Ct. Kings Co. 1990). The state has a compelling interest in fostering the traditional institution of marriage and prohibiting same-sex marriage.
 * Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44 (Haw. 1993). A statute limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Hawaii Constitution's equal protection clause unless the state can show that the statute is both justified by compelling state interests and also narrowly tailored. This ruling prompted the adoption of Hawaii's constitutional amendment allowing the State Legislature to restrict marriage to different-sex couples and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
 * Dean v. District of Columbia, 653 A.2d 307 (D.C. 1995). DC does not authorise same-sex marriage; denial of a marriage license does not violate the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.
 * Storrs v. Holcomb, 645 N.Y.S.2d 286 (App. Div. 1996). New York does not recognize or authorize same-sex marriage. Overturned in part by Martinez v. County of Monroe in 2008.
 * In re Estate of Hall, 707 N.E.2d 201, 206 (Ill. App. Ct. 1998). Illinois does not recognize a same-sex marriage. The petitioner's claim to be in a same-sex marriage was not in a marriage recognized by law.
 * Baker v. Vermont, 170 Vt. 194; 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999). The Common Benefits Clause of the Constitution of Vermont requires that same-sex couples be granted the same legal rights as married persons, though it need not be called marriage.

2000s

 * Frandsen v. County of Brevard, 828 So. 2d 757 (Fla. 2001). The Florida Constitution will not be construed to recognize same-sex marriage; sex classifications not subject to strict scrutiny under the Constitution.
 * Burns v. Burns, 560 S.E.2d 47 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002). Marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
 * In re Estate of Gardiner, 42 P.3d 120 (Kan. 2002). A post-operative male-to-female transsexual is not a woman within the meaning of the statutes and cannot validly marry a man.
 * Rosengarten v. Downes, 806 A.2d 1066 (Conn. Ct. App. 2002). Connecticut will not dissolve a Vermont civil union.
 * Standhardt v. Superior Court ex rel. County of Maricopa, 77 P.3d 451 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2003). The Constitution of Arizona does not provide the right to same-sex marriage.
 * Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003). The denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated provisions of the Massachusetts State Constitution guaranteeing individual liberty and equality, and it was not rationally related to a legitimate state interest.
 * Morrison v. Sadler, 821 N.E.2d 15 (Ind. Super. Ct. 2005). Indiana's Defense of Marriage Act is valid.
 * Langan v. St. Vincent's Hospital, 802 N.Y.S.2d 476 (App. Div. 2005). For the purposes of New York's wrongful death statute, the survivor partner from a Vermont civil union lacks standing as a "spouse".
 * Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, 455 F.3d 859 (8th Cir. 2006). Nebraska's Initiative Measure 416 does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, was not a bill of attainder, and does not violate the First Amendment.
 * Lewis v. Harris, 908 A.2d 196 (N.J. 2006). Prohibiting same-sex marriage does not violate the New Jersey Constitution, but the state must extend all the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. The New Jersey Legislature had 180 days to amend the marriage laws or create a "parallel structure".
 * Andersen v. King County, 138 P.3d 963 (Wash. 2006). Washington's Defense of Marriage Act does not violate the State Constitution.
 * Hernandez v. Robles, 855 N.E.2d 1 (N.Y. 2006). The New York Constitution does not require that marriage rights be extended to same-sex couples.
 * Conaway v. Deane, 932 A.2d 571 (Md. 2007). Upholds a Maryland law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
 * Martinez v. County of Monroe, 850 N.Y.S.2d 740 (App. Div. 2008). Because New York recognizes the marriages of opposite-sex couples from other jurisdictions, it must do the same for same-sex couples.
 * In re Marriage Cases, 183 P.3d 384 (Cal. 2008). Limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is invalid under the equal protection clause of the California Constitution. Full marriage rights, not merely domestic partnership, must be offered to same-sex couples.
 * Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, 957 A.2d 407 (Conn. 2008). The availability of civil unions but not marriage to same-sex partners is a violation of the equality and liberty provisions of the Connecticut Constitution.
 * Strauss v. Horton, 207 P.3d 48 (Cal. 2009). Proposition 8 was validly adopted, and marriages contracted before its adoption remain valid.
 * Varnum v. Brien, 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009). Barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the equal protection provisions of the Iowa Constitution. Equal protection requires full marriage, rather than civil unions or some other substitute, for same-sex couples.

2010s

 * Challenges to DOMA Section 3
 * Gill v. Office of Personnel Management (2009–2013). Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is found unconstitutional in U.S. district court. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirms that ruling and stays implementation pending appeal. Windsor finds Section 3 unconstitutional and appeal of Gill is denied by the Supreme Court.
 * Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services (2009–2013). Decided alongside Gill with the same outcome.
 * Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management (2010–2013). Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is found unconstitutional in U.S. district court, which determines that sexual orientation is a quasi-suspect classification requiring the court to apply intermediate scrutiny, that is, to determine whether Section 3 relates to an important government interest. On appeal, the case is held in abeyance pending the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Windsor, which settles the issues raised in Golinski, the appeal of which to the Supreme Court is then denied.
 * United States v. Windsor (2010–2013). Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is found unconstitutional in U.S. district court. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirms that ruling, as does the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Government began implementing the decision the same week.
 * California Proposition 8
 * Hollingsworth v. Perry (2009–2013). California's Proposition 8, a voter-endorsed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, is found unconstitutional in U.S. district court in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The proposition's backers appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upholds the district court's finding of unconstitutionality in Perry v. Brown. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the proposition's backers lacked standing to appeal and left the district court ruling intact.
 * Same-sex marriage rights
 * Christiansen v. Christiansen. On June 6, 2011, the Supreme Court of Wyoming grants a divorce to two women who married in Canada, but says its decision does not apply "in any context other than divorce".
 * Port v. Cowan (2010–2012). Maryland must recognize valid out-of-state same-sex marriages under doctrine of comity.
 * Garden State Equality v. Dow (2011–2013), New Jersey's civil unions violate due process guarantees; denying same-sex marriage ruled unconstitutional in state superior court. The N.J. Supreme Court refuses to stay the ruling and the state defendants drop their appeal.
 * Griego v. Oliver, 316 P.3d 865 (N.M. 2013). The New Mexico Supreme Court rules that the State Constitution requires marriage rights to be extended to same-sex couples.
 * Kitchen v. Herbert, 961 F. Supp. 2d 1181 (2013). U.S. district court rules Utah's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds that ruling on June 25, 2014. All parties support review by the U.S. Supreme Court, and that court denied review on October 6.
 * Whitewood v. Wolf (Pennsylvania). On May 20, 2014, Judge John E. Jones III rules that Pennsylvania's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.
 * Geiger v. Kitzhaber and Rummell v. Kitzhaber (Oregon). On May 19, 2014, district judge Michael J. McShane declares Oregon's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
 * Bostic v. Schaefer (Virginia). The Fourth Circuit on July 28, 2014, in a 2–1 decision, affirms a district court ruling that Virginia's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court denied review on October 6.
 * Baskin v. Bogan (Indiana) and Wolf v. Walker (Wisconsin). The Seventh Circuit consolidated these cases and on September 4, 2014, upheld two district court rulings that had found Indiana's and Wisconsin's bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court denied review on October 6.
 * Bishop v. Smith (Oklahoma). On July 18, 2014, the Tenth Circuit upholds the district court ruling that Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court denied review on October 6.
 * Barrier v. Vasterling (Missouri). State circuit judge J. Dale Youngs rules on October 3, 2014, that Missouri's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions violates the plaintiff same-sex couples' right to equal protection under both the state and federal constitutions.
 * Caspar v. Snyder (Michigan). On January 15, 2015, U.S. district judge Mark A. Goldsmith ruled that the state must recognize the validity of "window marriages" established on March 21 and 22, 2014, before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a district court ruling in DeBoer v. Snyder that found Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, despite the fact that DeBoer was later reversed. The state chose not to appeal.
 * Obergefell v. Hodges (2013-2015). U.S. Supreme Court case finding state bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. (Overturned Baker v. Nelson)

Public opinion
Americans began to be polled occasionally on the topic in the 1980s and more regularly in the 1990s. From 1988 to 2009, support for same-sex marriage increased between 1% and 1.5% per year. In the 2010s, it increased more quickly.

Gallup found that nationwide public support reached 50% in May 2011, 60% in May 2015, and 70% in May 2021.

The Pew Research Center similarly found 40% in 2010, 50% in 2013 and 61% in 2019.

83% of Americans aged 18–29 supported same-sex marriage.

there was majority support for same-sex marriage in 47 states, ranging from 50% in South Carolina to 85% in Massachusetts. There was plurality support in Alabama, with 49% supporting and 47% opposing. Only Mississippi and Arkansas had majority opposition to same-sex marriage; in Mississippi, 55% opposed and 44% supported, while in Arkansas, 52% opposed and 47% supported same-sex marriage.

60% of Americans said they would not mind if their child married someone of the same gender.

Annual polling conducted by Gallup each May in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 has found support for same-sex marriage stable, with two-thirds of Americans indicating that same-sex marriage should be recognized as valid under law (a range of 63% to 67% was recorded). In 2022, a new record high of 71% of respondents stated that same-sex marriage should be legally recognized as valid under the law.

A Grinnell College National Poll in September 2022 indicated that 74% of Americans thought that same-sex marriage should be a guaranteed right – 13% thought it should be left to elected officials, and 13% were unsure.

Legislation

 * Domestic partnership in the United States
 * Federal Marriage Amendment
 * Respect for Marriage Act
 * Former U.S. state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions
 * Same-sex marriage law in the United States by state
 * Same-sex marriage legislation in the United States
 * Same-sex marriage status in the United States by state
 * Same-sex unions in the United States

Miscellaneous

 * A Union in Wait (documentary film)

title: Same-sex marriage in the United States


text:
Steve Broidy

Samuel “Steve” Broidy (June 14, 1905 – April 28, 1991) was an American executive in the U.S. motion picture industry.

Early life
Samuel Broidy was born on June 14, 1905, in Malden, Massachusetts. He attended Boston University, but he was forced to drop out because of the Great Depression.

Career
Broidy entered the film industry as a salesman for Universal Studios in 1926. In 1931, he began working for Warner Bros. Studios. He joined Monogram Pictures in 1933 as Boston sales manager and in 1940 was elected to the board of directors and named vice president and general sales manager. As V.P., Broidy took charge of operations early in 1945 and later that year was named president. In 1946 Broidy formed Allied Artists Productions and Monogram changed to that name in 1953.

He remained president of Allied Artists until 1965, when he left to form his own company, Motion Pictures International. As an independent, Broidy produced Good Times (Columbia), The Fox (Claridge Pictures, 1967), and 80 Steps to Jonah (Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, 1969). He also produced, uncredited, The Poseidon Adventure in 1972.

Philanthropy
An active philanthropist, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1962, and was Founding Life Chairman of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Broidy served on the MPAA Board of Governors from June 1960 through May 1969, and was their Second Vice President from 1967 to 1968.

Personal life
Broidy had two sons, Arthur and Steven Broidy, and a daughter, Eleanor Sattinger.

Death
Broidy died in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, following a heart attack, at the age of 85.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Steve Broidy


text:
Midway International Airport

Chicago Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Loop business district. Established in 1927, Midway served as Chicago's primary airport until the opening of O'Hare International Airport in 1944. Today, Midway is one of the busiest airports in the nation and the second-busiest airport both in the Chicago metropolitan area and the state of Illinois, serving 22,050,489 passengers in 2023.

Midway is a base for Southwest Airlines, which carries over 95% of the passengers at the airport. The airport's current name is in honor of the Battle of Midway. The now-defunct Midway Airlines, once headquartered at Midway, took its name from the airport. The airfield is located in a square mile bounded by 55th and 63rd streets, and Central and Cicero avenues. The current terminal complex was completed in 2001. The terminal bridges Cicero Avenue and contains 43 gates with facilities for international passengers. The CTA rapid transit Orange Line provides transit to Downtown Chicago, where it connects with other subway/elevated rapid transit lines.

Early history (1923–1962)
Originally named Chicago Air Park, Midway Airport was built on a 320 acre plot in 1923 with one cinder runway mainly for airmail flights. In 1926, the city leased the airport and named it Chicago Municipal Airport on December 12, 1927. By 1928, the airport had twelve hangars and four runways, which were lit for night operations.

A major fire early on June 25, 1930 destroyed two hangars and 27 aircraft, "12 of them tri-motor passenger planes." The loss was estimated at more than two million dollars. The hangars destroyed belonged to the Universal Air Lines, Inc. and the Grey Goose Airlines, the latter under lease to Stout Air Lines. The fire followed an explosion of undetermined cause in the Universal hangar.

In 1931, a new passenger terminal opened at 62nd St; the following year the airport claimed to be the "World's Busiest" with over 100,846 passengers on 60,947 flights. (The July 1932 Official Aviation Guide (OAG) shows 206 scheduled airline departures a week.)

More construction was funded in part by $1 million from the Works Progress Administration; the airport expanded to fill the square mile in 1938–41 after a court ordered the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad to reroute tracks that had crossed the square along the northern edge of the older field.

The March 1939 OAG shows 47 weekday departures: 13 on United, 13 American, 9 TWA, 4 Northwest, and two each on Eastern, Braniff, Pennsylvania Central, and C&S. New York's airport (Newark, then LaGuardia by the end of 1939) was then the busiest airline airport in the United States, but Midway passed LaGuardia in 1948 and kept the title until 1960. The record-breaking 1945 Japan–Washington flight of B-29s refueled at the airport on their way to Washington, DC.

In July 1949, the airport was renamed after the Battle of Midway. That year, Midway saw 3.2 million passengers; passengers peaked at 10 million in 1959. The diagram on the January 1951 C&GS approach chart shows four parallel pairs of runways, all 4240 ft or less except for 5730-ft runway 13R (current runway 13C) and 5230-ft runway 4R.

The April 1957 OAG shows 414 weekday fixed-wing departures from Midway: 83 American, 83 United, 56 TWA, 40 Capital, 35 North Central, 28 Delta, 27 Eastern, 22 Northwest, 19 Ozark, 11 Braniff, 5 Trans-Canada, and 5 Lake Central. Air France, Lufthansa, and REAL (of Brazil) had a few flights per week. Midway was running out of room and, in any case, could not handle the 707 and DC-8 jets that appeared in 1959; every Chicago jet flight had to use O'Hare, which had opened to the airlines in 1955. Electras and Viscounts could have continued to fly out of Midway, but O'Hare's new terminal opened in 1962, allowing airlines to consolidate their flights. From July 1962 until United returned in July 1964, Midway's only scheduled airline was Chicago Helicopter. In August 1966, a total of four fixed-wing arrivals were scheduled, all United 727s (United was alone at Midway until early 1968).

Post-O'Hare reconstruction (1963–1993)
By 1967, reconstruction began at the airport, adding three new concourses with 28 gates and three ticket counters, and in 1968, the city invested $10 million in renovation funds. (For a few months during the 1967 renovation, Midway had no scheduled airline flights.) The funds partly supported construction of the Stevenson Expressway, and Midway saw the return of major airlines that year, with 1,663,074 passengers on smaller-capacity, shorter range twin-jet and trijet airliners such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, BAC One-Eleven, Boeing 727, and Boeing 737 that could use Midway's runways, which the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 could not. In May 1968 there were 22 scheduled departures: six United 727s to MSP, DCA and LGA, 12 Northwest 727s to MSP and CLE, one Delta DC-9 to STL and three Ozark FH227s.

The December 1970 OAG shows 86 weekday arrivals (77 jet) on 13 fixed-wing airlines from 31 airports, but the August 1974 shows 14 arrivals (all jet) on four airlines, and in 1976–79 Midway had only the two or three Delta DC-9s from St Louis. Midway Airlines arrived on October 31, 1979, with DC-9 nonstops to Kansas City, Detroit and Cleveland Lakefront; they expanded greatly in the 1980s. Their September 1989 timetable shows 117 weekday departures to 29 cities, plus 108 departures on their commuter affiliates to 22 more cities. Midway ceased flying in 1991 due to financial challenges.

In 1982, the city of Chicago purchased Midway Airport from the Chicago Board of Education for $16 million. Three years later, Southwest Airlines began operations at Midway. Midway was a focus city for Vanguard Airlines from 1997 to 2000.

The Chicago Transit Authority displaced the Carlton Midway Inn to open a new CTA terminal at the airport on October 31, 1993, for the new Chicago 'L' Orange Line that connected Midway to the Loop. Midway Airport is the end of the line, which crosses the southwest part of the city before circling around the Loop. Unlike the CTA Blue Line, which runs 24 hours a day, every day, the Orange Line runs from about 4:00 am to 1:00 am, just shy of 24 hours, at an average of 8-minute intervals. During overnight periods, the N62 Archer bus is available as an alternative. Once the train departs, the trip from Midway to the Loop takes about 25 minutes.

Years of ATA (1994–2008)
In 1996, after failing to get his Lake Calumet Airport and having received harsh criticism for the idea of turning the airport into an industrial park, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced the Midway Airport Terminal Development Program, which was launched the following year. At the time, it was the largest public works project in the state. The Midway Airport parking garage opened in 1999, bringing covered parking to the airport for the first time. The garage is connected to the Midway terminal building for convenient access to ticket counters and baggage claim areas.

Continuing with the expansion project, a pedestrian bridge over Cicero Avenue was built in 2000, connecting the new terminal to the new concourses. In 2001 the new 900000 sqft Midway Airport terminal building opened, with larger ticket counters, spacious baggage claim areas, traveler information, and a short walking distance to gates. A 50000 sqft food court opened with Chicago-style food and retail options.

The expansion project culminated with a short lived period of great airline diversity at Midway as Vanguard Airlines, National Airlines and AirTran Airways all expanded their services to the airport.

ATA Airlines (ATA) took over Chicago Express Airlines, also known as ATA Connection, whose primary hub was at Midway. Chicago Express served as a regional airline connecting to airports around the Great Lakes regions.

Following the September 11 attacks, which resulted in a drop in passenger service, along with other problems for the airline industry, both Vanguard and National ceased operations at Midway and became defunct in 2002, with MetroJet being dissolved and refolded into US Airways' main line in late 2001.

In 2002, Midway welcomed the return of international service after a 40-year absence with the opening of the new Federal Inspection Service facility in Concourse A.

In June 2004, Mayor Daley and airline officials celebrated the completion of the Terminal Development Program. The project, designed by HNTB resulted in the addition of 14 gates (from 29 to 43). A new 6,300-space economy parking garage, including a new bridge and roadway for buses shuttling passengers to and from the terminal, opened in December 2005.

Simultaneous to Midway's expansion, ATA Airlines began rapid expansion at Midway in the early 2000s (decade), and was the airport's dominant carrier prior to 2004, using 14 of the 17 gates in Concourse A. However, after the airline declared bankruptcy in October 2004, scheduled service from Midway significantly decreased.

For over 16 years, Midway had been the main hub for Indianapolis-based ATA, but the airline announced in March 2008 that it would end all flights from Midway on June 7, 2008. Even before that could happen, though, ATA filed for bankruptcy on April 2, 2008, and ceased all flights the following day.

In November 2008, Porter Airlines, which flies between Midway and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, was the only international route served from Chicago–Midway after ATA Airlines, which had flights to Mexico, ceased operations in April that year. On December 13, 2010, a second carrier, Volaris, began flights between Guadalajara and Midway.

Starting in early 2009, a construction project added a new walkway and food court to Concourse A. The project also connected gates A4A and A4B to the main A concourse. Expansions were completed in the spring of 2010.

Privatization attempts
Chicago has considered privatizing the airport, but the deals fell through in 2009 and 2013.

On April 20, 2009, a $2.5 billion deal to privatize the airport via a 99-year lease fell through when the consortium could not put together financing. The city would have kept $125 million in the down payment. The consortium operating under the name of Midway Investment and Development Company LLC consisted of Vancouver Airport Services, Citi Infrastructure Investors, and Boston's John Hancock Life Insurance. It was awarded the contract in October 2008 by the City Council, which voted 49–0 to approve it. The consortium would have operated the airport and collected airport parking, concession, and passenger facility charges. However, Chicago would have continued to provide fire and police services. In 2010 a new slogan emerged, calling the airport "The busiest square mile in the world".

In September 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel terminated new negotiations to privatize the airport, noting that the process was no longer competitive after one of the two finalists had backed out. The one remaining was Great Lakes Airport Alliance – a partnership of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Ferrovial. Macquarie was one of the investors in the Chicago Skyway. The group that had backed out was a group that included the Australia-based Industry Funds Management and Manchester Airports Group. The Great Lakes proposal had been valued at $2 billion and would have involved a 40-year lease.

Modernization program
Construction began on expansions of the security checkpoint and main parking garage. The bridge spanning Cicero Ave is being widened from 50 feet to over 400 feet, allowing up to 17 security lanes and a streamlined queue. As the current terminal opened just a few months prior to the September 11th attacks, the security area was quickly rendered too small for the new screening measures and subsequently was forced to expand inward, taking away from space in the concourses. Space that is reclaimed by moving security outward into the bridge will be redeveloped with an expansion of the central food court. The main parking garage is being extended eastward over the CTA L tracks to add 1,500 spaces and streamline the entrance way. In addition to the redeveloped central food court, new concession options will open in phases including a food court in Concourse A utilizing previously unused space built during the 2010 rebuild of the Gate A4A/B connecting walkway. The program is the largest capital improvements project at the airport since the 2001 terminal redevelopment and has been completed

Facilities

All terminals and hangars were on the square periphery. By the late 1970s, the shorter north–south and east–west runway pairs had been closed, though some were converted to taxiways. The other four runways remain in use, all strengthened and enhanced, but about the same lengths as always. A short runway (13R/31L) for light aircraft was added in 1989.

Chicago Midway International Airport covers just over one square mile (650 acres) and has four active runways:

 * 13C/31C: 6522 x, air carrier runway, ILS-equipped
 * 4R/22L: 6445 x, air carrier runway, ILS-equipped
 * 4L/22R: 5507 x, general aviation and air taxi
 * 13R/31L: 3859 x, light aircraft only

Midway is surrounded by buildings and other development, so the landing thresholds of the runways are displaced to provide obstacle clearance. The FAA and the airlines ensure safety by adhering to calculated load limits and various weather minimums. Because of the displaced landing thresholds, the runways have shorter distances available for landings than for takeoffs. 13C/31C, the longest runway, only has an available landing distance of 6059 ft in the southeast direction, and 5826 ft to the northwest. The largest aircraft normally seen at Midway is the Boeing 757. Normally, commercial planes only take off from and land on runways 4R/22L and 13C/31C. The other runways are used by smaller aircraft and, per the US FAA Chart Supplement, are restricted from use by large commercial aircraft except in emergency. Runway 13L/31R was permanently closed after 82 years on August 9, 2023 and was converted to Taxiway H.

Terminal
Midway has 43 aircraft gates on three concourses.

 * Concourse A has 17 gates.
 * Concourse B has 23 gates.
 * Concourse C has 3 gates.

Ground transportation
The Chicago Transit Authority operates the Orange Line "L" and multiple bus routes to the airport. Pace also operates numerous bus routes. River Valley Metro operates a commuter shuttle connecting the airport to Manteno and Bourbonnais in Kankakee County.

Accidents and incidents
On December 8, 1972, United Air Lines Flight 553, a Boeing 737-200, crashed into a residential area outside Midway during landing. The crash of the 737-200 killed 43 of the 61 on board, and two on the ground. One of the victims on the plane was Dorothy Hunt, the wife of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt. She was carrying $10,000 in cash. James McCord alleged that she supplied the Watergate defendants with money for legal expenses.

Exactly 33 years later, on December 8, 2005, Southwest Airlines Flight 1248, a Boeing 737-700 inbound from Baltimore–Washington International Airport in Baltimore, Maryland, slid off the runway while attempting to land at the airport in a heavy snow storm. The airplane broke through the barrier fence of the airport, and came to rest at the intersection of 55th Street and Central Avenue bordering the airport at its northwest corner. A 6-year-old boy was killed as a passenger in a vehicle that was struck by the plane after it skidded into the street.

Source: Civil Aeronautics Board archives, NTSB records.

Note: Prior to 1941, the runways did not have numerical designations. The runway now designated 13C/31C was designated 13R/31L from 1941 until 1989, when a new Runway 13R/31L was built. Runways 27L, 27R, 36L and 36R were closed by 1973.

title: Midway International Airport


text:
List of librarians

This is a list of notable librarians and people who have advanced libraries and librarianship. Also included are people primarily notable for other endeavors, such as politicians and writers, who have also worked as librarians.

A–E

 * Ada Adler
 * Mary Eileen Ahern
 * Camila Alire
 * Edna Allyn – first librarian of the Hawaii State Library
 * Lester Asheim
 * Ashurbanipal II
 * Sarah B. Askew – pioneered the establishment of county libraries in the United States
 * Basil Atkinson
 * Davinder Pal Singh – founder of the Panjab Digital Library
 * Derek Austin
 * Winifred Austin – pioneer of UK Library for the blind
 * Henriette Avram – MARC standards developer
 * Antoine Alexandre Barbier
 * John Davis Barnett – Canadian curator–librarian
 * John J. Beckley – first Librarian of Congress; politician
 * Pura Belpré – librarian and author
 * Sanford Berman
 * Bob Berring – law librarian
 * Guy Berthiaume – 3rd Librarian and Archivist of Canada
 * John Carlo Bertot – library educator, researcher, editor of The Library Quarterly
 * Anastasius Bibliothecarius
 * James H. Billington – 13th librarian of Congress; historian
 * Robert H. Blackburn – former chief librarian of the University of Toronto
 * Thomas Bodley – founder of the Bodleian Library; English diplomat; 1545–1613
 * Arna Bontemps – author, bibliographer, and Fisk University librarian
 * Daniel J. Boorstin – 12th Librarian of Congress; historian
 * Marjorie Adele Blackistone Bradfield – as the Detroit Public Library's first African-American librarian, expanded its African-American literature collection
 * Aase Bredsdorff (1919–2017) – Danish library inspector specialising in children's literature
 * Wallace Breem – novelist and law librarian
 * Suzanne Briet
 * Douglas Brymner – first Dominion Archivist (National Archivist) of Canada
 * Frank J. Burgoyne (1858–1913) – author and librarian at Lambeth Libraries
 * Edward Dundas Butler – translator and senior librarian at the Department of Printed Books, British Museum
 * Lee Pierce Butler
 * Andrew Carnegie – Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who financed thousands of libraries around the world
 * Leon Carnovsky
 * Daniel J. Caron – 2nd Librarian and Archivist of Canada
 * Amalia Kahana-Carmon
 * Roch Carrier – 4th National Librarian of Canada
 * Mayme Agnew Clayton
 * Cecilia Cleve (d. 1819) – Swedish pioneer librarian
 * Morris L. Cohen – attorney, law librarian and professor of law at the University at Buffalo, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Law School and Yale Law School
 * Marjorie Cotton – first professionally qualified children's librarian in New South Wales, Australia
 * Andrea Crestadoro
 * Charles Ammi Cutter
 * Laura Dallapiccola – Italian librarian and translator
 * John Cotton Dana (1856–1931)
 * Robert Darnton
 * Lorcan Dempsey
 * Beryl May Dent – mathematical physicist, technical librarian at Metropolitan-Vickers, honorary secretary of ASLIB branch
 * Melvil Dewey
 * William S. Dix
 * Arthur Doughty – 2nd Dominion Archivist (National Archivist) of Canada and Keeper of the Public Records
 * Leaonead Pack Drain-Bailey (1906–1983), Head of Library at West Virginia State University
 * Mollie E. Dunlap
 * Karl Franz Otto Dziatzko
 * Linda Eastman
 * Margaret A. Edwards
 * El Sayed Mahmoud El Sheniti – seminal figure in professional librarianship in Egypt
 * Theresa Elmendorf
 * Miriam Eshkol
 * Luther H. Evans – 10th Librarian of Congress
 * Woody Evans
 * Oliver Everett
 * Chinwe Nwogo Ezeani – first female University Librarian at University of Nigeria, Nsukka

F–M

 * Johann Albert Fabricius – bibliographer
 * Mary Cutler Fairchild – pioneer library educator
 * Adele M. Fasick – historical fiction writer, library science scholar, professor
 * David Ferriero – former M.I.T librarian and current Archivist of the United States
 * Anette Fischer (1946–1992) – librarian and human rights activist
 * Herman H. Fussler
 * Elizabeth Futas – director of the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies
 * Mary Virginia Gaver
 * Helen Thornton Geer – ALA Headquarters librarian, author, consultant, and professor
 * Johann Matthias Gesner – bibliographer
 * Kenneth MacLean Glazier Sr. – Canadian librarian
 * Eliza Atkins Gleason – first African American to receive doctorate of Library Science
 * Frederick R. Goff – incunabula scholar
 * Michael Gorman
 * Jan Gruter – scholar
 * Camilla Gryski
 * Helen E. Haines
 * Lillian Haydon Childress Hall – first professionally trained African American librarian in Indiana
 * Spencer Hall – librarian of the Athenaeum Club, London
 * Adelaide Hasse
 * Peter Havard-Williams – librarian educator
 * Carla Hayden – public librarian, former ALA President, 14th Librarian of Congress
 * Frances E. Henne
 * Wolfgang Herrmann – librarian; member of Nazi Purification Committee
 * Caroline Hewins
 * John Howard Hickcox Sr.
 * Ted Hines
 * Cecil Hobbs – American scholar of Southeast Asian history, head of the Southern Asia Section of the Orientalia (now Asian) Division of the Library of Congress, a major contributor to scholarship on Asia and the development of South East Asian coverage in American library collections
 * Judith Hoffberg – art librarian
 * Zoia Horn – American librarian jailed for refusing to divulge information that violated her belief in intellectual freedom
 * Laura E. Howey – American librarian, educator, social reformer
 * Jean Blackwell Hutson – chief of Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
 * Thomas James
 * Anne Jarvis
 * Thomas Jefferson – sold his library to the Library of Congress
 * Charles Coffin Jewett
 * Carleton B. Joeckel
 * Virginia Lacy Jones – major figure in the integration of public and academic libraries
 * Mildred M. Jordan – president of the Medical Library Association and medical librarian at Emory University
 * E. J. Josey
 * Gene Joseph – founding librarian of the Xwi7xwa Library at the University of British Columbia and the first librarian of First Nations descent in British Columbia, Canada
 * Muhammad Siddiq Khan
 * Mohammad Khatami – former President of Iran; previously Head of National Library of Iran
 * Frederick Kilgour
 * Mary A. Kingsbury – American school library pioneer
 * Anastasiya Kobzarenko
 * Judith Krug – forty-year leader of the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom
 * Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya – wife of Lenin
 * William Kaye Lamb – first National Librarian of Canada
 * Frederick Wilfrid Lancaster
 * Gustave Lanctot – 3rd Dominion Archivist (National Archivist) of Canada
 * Philip Larkin
 * Louise Payson Latimer
 * Margaret Leiteritz – painter who based her work of scientific items which she knew as a librarian
 * Anne Grodzins Lipow – founder of Library Solutions Institute and Press
 * Audre Lorde – 20th-century US poet and activist
 * Eleanor Young Love – African-American librarian from Kentucky
 * Seymour Lubetzky
 * Roderick Samson Mabomba – Malawian librarian
 * Archibald MacLeish – 9th Librarian of Congress; Pulitzer Prize poet
 * Alison Macrina – founder of the Librarian Freedom Project
 * Patrick Magruder – 2nd Librarian of Congress; politician
 * Mary Helen Mahar – president of the New York Library Association in 1950
 * Margaret Mann – library educator, particularly cataloging; founding faculty member at University of Michigan library science program (1926)
 * Allie Beth Martin
 * Harry S. Martin – former Head Librarian, Harvard Law Library
 * Kathleen de la Peña McCook – library scholar, public librarian, free speech advocate, and author
 * John Silva Meehan – 4th Librarian of Congress
 * Florence Milnes – first BBC librarian
 * August Molinier – French historian
 * Eric Moon – editor of Library Journal
 * Anne Carroll Moore – pioneering children's librarian
 * Everett T. Moore – freedom of information
 * Elizabeth Homer Morton – important contributions to development of Canadian libraries
 * Isadore Gilbert Mudge – edited Guide to Resource Works
 * L. Quincy Mumford – 11th Librarian of Congress
 * Alan Noel Latimer Munby – English librarian, bibliographical scholar and author
 * Ludovico Antonio Muratori – Italian librarian, archivist and historian
 * Muskan Ahirwar – at 9 years old she created a community library for children in the worker's colony where she lives.

N–Z

 * Gerhard Brandt Naeseth – Norwegian-American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library in Madison, Wisconsin
 * Makoto Nagao – 19th Director of National Diet Library of Japan; computer scientist specializing in digital library
 * Bonnie Nardi – information scientist
 * Gabriel Naudé
 * Malcolm Neesam – county music and audiovisual librarian for York, England
 * Howard Nixon
 * Margaret Cross Norton
 * Ekei Essien Oku – first Nigerian women chief librarian
 * Paul Otlet
 * John Henry Pyle Pafford
 * Antonio Panizzi – chief librarian of the British Museum library
 * Ingrid Parent – librarian at the University of British Columbia
 * Charles V. Park – librarian at Central Michigan University
 * Lotsee Patterson – librarian, educator, and founder of the American Indian Library Association
 * Nancy Pearl – librarian and author
 * Charles Peters – music cataloger at William & Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University
 * Mary Wright Plummer
 * Effie Louise Power
 * Herbert Putnam – 8th Librarian of Congress
 * S.R. Ranganathan – librarian and mathematician from India, known for his five laws of library science and the development of the colon classification
 * Neil Ratliff
 * W. Boyd Rayward
 * Fremont Rider
 * Jane, Lady Roberts (1949–2021) – UK Royal Librarian (2002–2013)
 * Charlemae Hill Rollins
 * Loriene Roy – first Native American president of the American Library Association
 * Frances Clarke Sayers
 * Louis A. Schultheiss
 * Patricia G. Schuman
 * Marvin H. Scilken
 * Margaret Scoggin – young adult librarian
 * Marianne Scott – 3rd National Librarian of Canada; 1st woman to be appointed to the role
 * Ralph R. Shaw
 * Spencer Shaw (1916–2010) – American children's librarian and educator
 * Jesse Shera
 * Louis Shores
 * Regina Smith – librarian at Jenkins Law Library, a membership library in Philadelphia
 * Wilfred I. Smith – 5th Dominion Archivist (National Archivist) of Canada
 * Frances Lander Spain (1903–1999) – American Library Association President 1960–61
 * Ainsworth Rand Spofford – 6th Librarian of Congress
 * John G. Stephenson – 5th Librarian of Congress
 * Mari Strachan – 21st-century Welsh novelist in English
 * Suetonius – Roman historian and archivist
 * Peggy Sullivan
 * Don R. Swanson
 * Friedrich Sylburg – 16th-century German scholar
 * Guy Sylvestre – 2nd National Librarian of Canada
 * John Szabo – City Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library and National Medal for Museum and Library Service recipient
 * Henry Richard Tedder – librarian of the Athenaeum Club, London
 * Florence Davy Thompson – founding librarian at the University of Manitoba
 * Louis Timothee – first American librarian
 * Arnulfo Trejo – U.S. Hispanic-American librarian
 * Gottfried van Swieten – Austrian Imperial librarian 1777–1803; introduced first card catalog
 * Eva Verona
 * Brian Campbell Vickery
 * Jean-Pierre Wallot – 6th Dominion/National Archivist of Canada
 * Douglas Waples
 * George Watterston – 3rd Librarian of Congress
 * Leslie Weir – 4th Librarian and Archivist of Canada; 1st woman to be appointed to the role
 * Jessamyn West
 * Edwina Whitney – librarian at the University of Connecticut
 * John Wilkin – digital library management researcher
 * Ian E. Wilson – 7th National Archivist of Canada, and 1st Librarian and Archivist of Canada
 * Louis Round Wilson
 * Patrick Wilson
 * Marianne Winder – librarian at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine
 * Justin Winsor – Harvard University librarian
 * Mary Elizabeth Wood – promoted Western librarianship practices and programs in China
 * Lawrence C. Wroth – librarian at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University
 * Ella Gaines Yates
 * Victor Yngve
 * John Russell Young – 7th Librarian of Congress; journalist
 * Zenodotus – first superintendent of Library of Alexandria; scholar of the 3rd century BC
 * Shen Zurong – father of library science in China

One-time librarians noted for other accomplishments

 * Reinaldo Arenas – Cuban author
 * Ben Barkow
 * Roland Barthes – French writer and philosopher
 * Georges Bataille – French writer
 * Ludwig Bechstein – German author
 * Thomas Berger – American novelist
 * Hector Berlioz – French composer; librarian, Paris Conservatoire
 * Arna Bontemps – French artist
 * Jorge Luis Borges – author and poet
 * John Braine – British novelist
 * Emma L. Brock – children's book author and illustrator, and librarian at the Minneapolis Public library and NYPL
 * Dee Brown – wrote Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
 * Callimachus – poet
 * Roch Carrier – novelist
 * Lewis Carroll – author
 * Giacomo Casanova
 * Isaac Casaubon
 * Cassiodorus
 * Beverly Cleary – novelist
 * Joanna Cole – children's book author and librarian
 * Ina Coolbrith – poet and librarian
 * Frank Coombs – U.S. politician; State Librarian of California, 1898–1899
 * Gratia Countryman – Minneapolis librarian
 * Pierre François le Courayer – 18th-century theologian
 * Evelyn Crowell – librarian, author, speaker, activist, and community organizer
 * Harinath De – linguist
 * John Dee – Renaissance magician
 * A. Brian Deer – librarian from Kahnawake who developed a library classification system that gave rise to the Brian Deer Classification System
 * Hal Draper
 * Marcel Duchamp
 * Will Durant – historian
 * Eratosthenes
 * Frank Ferko – composer
 * Benjamin Franklin
 * Stephen Gaselee – diplomat
 * Edmund Gosse
 * Ed Greenwood – author
 * Francis Hayman – English artist
 * Elizabeth Heaps
 * Edward Singleton Holden – U.S. astronomer
 * J. Edgar Hoover – first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
 * David Hume – philosopher
 * Hypatia (c. 350–370 – March 415)
 * Mohammad Khatami – Iranian president and scholar
 * Annette Curtis Klause – author of children's books
 * Stanley Kunitz – former United States Poet Laureate; editor of Wilson Library Bulletin, 1927–1943
 * Lao Tsu
 * Madeleine L'Engle – 20th-century novelist
 * Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz – mathematician and philosopher
 * Gotthold Ephraim Lessing – German playwright and poet
 * Wilhelm Lexis – German economist
 * Li Dazhao – Chinese revolutionary politician
 * Audre Lorde – 20th-century US poet and activist
 * Archibald MacLeish – author; Librarian of Congress, 1939–1944
 * Mao Zedong – Chinese revolutionary politician
 * Vaunda Micheaux Nelson – author and librarian
 * Andre Norton – science-fiction author
 * Walter A. O'Brien – U.S. politician; commissioned original version of the song "Charlie on the M.T.A."
 * Christopher Okigbo – Nigerian poet
 * Major Owens – U.S. House of Representatives (D-NY)
 * Andrew K. Pace – author
 * Coventry Patmore – 19th-century UK poet
 * Kit Pearson – Canadian writer; winner of the 1997 Governor General's Award for English language children's literature
 * Benjamin Peirce – logician
 * Per Petterson – Norwegian author
 * Charles Pickering
 * Marcel Proust – French author
 * Philip Pullman – fantasy novelist
 * Ken Roberts – author
 * Greg Dean Schmitz – online film journalist
 * Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves – granddaughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt
 * Steve Roud (b. 1949) – creator of the Roud Folk Song Index and authority on folklore and superstition
 * Sima Qian – Chinese historian
 * Lynne Stewart – American lawyer
 * June Tabor – British singer
 * Elizabeth Taylor
 * Edward J. Thomas – scholar of Buddhism
 * Anne Tyler – novelist
 * Wallace Van Jackson – American librarian and civil rights activist
 * Angus Wilson – novelist

Librarians noted as spouses of national leaders

 * Laura Bush – served as First Lady of the United States married to president, George W.Bush
 * Ingrid Carlsson – wife of Ingvar Carlsson
 * Miriam Eshkol – wife of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.
 * Nadezhda Krupskaya – wife of Vladimir Lenin

title: List of librarians