States face mounting legal costs while defending anti-marriage amendments

January 13, 2015

This week, the National Law Journal reported that many states owe lawyers working on cases involving the freedom to marry upward of $80,000 as a result of defending discriminatory anti-marriage amendments. In addition, requests for millions of dollars more are on hold pending appeal in cases that are still in lower courts.

Defending bans that prevent loving, committed same-sex couples from marrying already costs the country millions each day. In November of 2014, Freedom to Marry and Out & Equal Workplace Advocates released a report revealing that the remaining patchwork of marriage laws for same-sex couples across the United States is costing businesses in the private sector $1.3 billion every year. This new report makes it clear that it is costly for states to continue to defend marriage discrimination and lose -- as they have lost in nearly 60 cases thus far.

The court fees owed by courts standing on the wrong side of history underscore the need for a national resolution on the freedom to marry. Read more about the way the economy and businesses in the United States are affected by the denial of marriage to same-sex couples here.