Family & Relationships

Some legal scholars and others are trying to determine how a ruling granting same-sex couples a constitutional right to wed might affect religious institutions.

Public support for same-sex marriage has surged: 57% of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, up from 36% in 2005 and 27% in 1996.

In June of 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all state bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry nationwide. This timeline highlights the changes in state policies leading up to that ruling.

While laws allowing same-sex marriage have become more common in European countries and in U.S. states, gay marriage advocates also have gained ground in some parts of Latin America. Most recently, the Mexican Supreme Court issued a ruling making it much easier for gay and lesbian couples to wed.

A new research paper suggests that the number of married same-sex couples in the United States in 2013 may have been much lower than the Census Bureau’s initial estimate for that year.

To get a sense of how the country's racial demographics are changing, take a look at the differences between mixed-race Americans old and young.

The likelihood of becoming a young father plummets for those with a bachelor’s degree or more: Just 14% had their first child prior to age 25.

In 2014, 40% of births were to unmarried mothers, a slight decline from the 41% share that had held steady since 2008. Although the single percentage point drop in 2014 was small, it was only the third one-year dip in this measure since the end of World War II.

Interracial marriages have increased steadily since 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in 16 states.

Multiracial Americans are at the cutting edge of social and demographic change in the U.S.