Differences between gay and straight spouses disappear after legalization of gay marriage WSOC TV [Video]

Same-sex spouses were typically younger, had more education and were more likely to be employed than those in opposite-sex marriages, although many of those differences disappeared after the legalization of gay marriage in 2015, according to a new report released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Almost 1.5 million people lived with a same-sex spouse in the U.S. in 2022, double what it was in the year before gay marriage was legalized, according to the bureau’s American Community Survey.

A 2015 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriages legal in all 50 states. In the year before that ruling, same-sex marriages had been legalized in just over a third of states through legislation and lower court rulings.

The 2015 Supreme Court decision proved to be a watershed, with around 41% of same-sex spouses reported in 2022 getting married within four years of the ruling. By comparison, 14% of those in opposite-sex marriages were married between 2015 and …