Religious Liberty in the States Safeguards

Marriage & Weddings: Religious Entity Refusal

This safeguard captures any exemptions by states for religious organizations’ participation in marriage or wedding celebrations. Additionally, this safeguard includes the protections available for these religious entities should they refuse, specifically whether tax exempt status or more is protected. Checkmarks below indicate which entities are protected and if any consequences are explicitly precluded in the law.

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State	Score	Facilitation by Religious Organization	Statute(s)	URL	Statute(s)	Explicit Tax-Exempt Protection	Statute(s)	Protection Beyond Tax-Exempt	Statute(s)
Alabama	0	No				No		No
Alaska	0	No				No		No
Arizona	0	No				No		No
Arkansas	0	No				No		No
California	0	No	FAM §400(a)	https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=FAM&division=3.&title=&part=3.&chapter=1.&article=	FAM §400(a)	✓ Yes	FAM §400(a)	No	FAM §400(a)
Colorado	0	No				No		No
Connecticut	1	✓ Yes	§46b-35a	https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_815e.htm#sec_46b-35a	§46b-22b(b)	✓ Yes	§46b-35a	✓ Yes	§46b-35a
Delaware	1	No	13 §106(f)	https://delcode.delaware.gov/title13/c001/sc01/#106	13 §106(f)	✓ Yes	13 §106(f)	✓ Yes	13 §106(f)
Florida	1	✓ Yes	§761.061(2)(b)	http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0761/Sections/0761.061.html	§761.061(1)(b)	✓ Yes	§761.061(2)(b)	✓ Yes	§761.061(2)(b)
Georgia	0	No				No		No
Hawaii	1	✓ Yes	§572-12.1(b),-12.2(b)	https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol12_Ch0501-0588/HRS0572/HRS_0572-0012_0001.htm	§572-12.2	✓ Yes	§572-12.1(b),-12.2(b)	✓ Yes	§572-12.1(b),-12.2(b)
Idaho	0	No				No		No
Illinois	1	✓ Yes	750 ILCS 5/209(a-5)	https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?ActID=2086&ChapterID=59&SeqStart=900000&SeqEnd=3000000	750 ILCS 5/209(a-10)	✓ Yes	750 ILCS 5/209(a-5), -(a-10)	✓ Yes	750 ILCS 5/209(a-5)
Indiana	0	No				No		No
Iowa	0	No				No		No
Kansas	0	No				No		No
Kentucky	0	No				No		No
Louisiana	0	No				No		No
Maine	0	✓ Yes	19-A §655(3)	https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/19-A/title19-Asec655.html	19-A §655(3)	✓ Yes	19-A §655(3)	No	19-A §655(3)
Maryland	1	✓ Yes	Maryland Civil Marriage Protection Act Ch. 2 §3(a)-(c)	https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2012rs/chapters_noln/Ch_2_hb0438T.pdf#page=5	Maryland Civil Marriage Protection Act Ch. 2 §3(a)-(c)	✓ Yes	Maryland Civil Marriage Protection Act Ch. 2 §3(a)-(c)	✓ Yes	Maryland Civil Marriage Protection Act Ch. 2 §3(a)-(c)
Massachusetts	0	No				No		No
Michigan	0	No				No		No
Minnesota	1	✓ Yes	§517.09(1)-(3)	https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/517.09	§517.09(1)-(3)	✓ Yes	§517.09(1)-(3)	✓ Yes	§517.09(1)-(3)
Mississippi	1	✓ Yes	§11-62-7	https://advance.lexis.com/api/document/collection/statutes-legislation/id/8P6B-7Y92-8T6X-73X7-00008-00?cite=Miss.%20Code%20Ann.%20%C2%A7%2011-62-7&context=1000516	§11-62-5(1)(a)	✓ Yes	§11-62-7	✓ Yes	§11-62-7
Missouri	0	No				No		No
Montana	0	No				No		No
Nebraska	0	No				No		No
Nevada	0	✓ Yes	Const. Art. 1 §21	https://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html#Art1Sec21	Const. Art. 1 §21	No	Const. Art. 1 §21	No	Const. Art. 1 §21
New Hampshire	1	✓ Yes	43 §457:37(1)-(3)	http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XLIII/457/457-37.htm	43 §457:37(1)-(3)	✓ Yes	43 §457:37(1)-(3)	✓ Yes	43 §457:37(1)-(3)
New Jersey	0	No				No		No
New Mexico	0	No				No		No
New York	1	✓ Yes	DOM §10-B(3)	https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/DOM/10-B	DOM §10-B	✓ Yes	DOM §10-B(3)	✓ Yes	DOM §10-B(3)
North Carolina	0	No				No		No
North Dakota	0	No				No		No
Ohio	0	No				No		No
Oklahoma	0	No	43 §7.1	https://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=476108	43 §7.1	No	43 §7.1	No	43 §7.1
Oregon	0	No				No		No
Pennsylvania	0	No				No		No
Rhode Island	1	✓ Yes	§15-3-6.1	http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE15/15-3/15-3-6.1.HTM	§15-3-6.1(a)	✓ Yes	§15-3-6.1	✓ Yes	§15-3-6.1
South Carolina	0	No				No		No
South Dakota	0	No				No		No
Tennessee	0	No				No		No
Texas	1	✓ Yes	FAM §2.602	https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.2.htm#2.602	FAM §2.601	✓ Yes	FAM §2.602	✓ Yes	FAM §2.602
Utah	1	✓ Yes	§63G-20-102,-202	https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title63G/Chapter20/63G-20-S102.html	§63G-20-301	✓ Yes	§63G-20-102,-202	✓ Yes	§63G-20-102,-202
Vermont	0	✓ Yes	9 §4502(l)	https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/09/139/04502	9 §4502(l)	No	9 §4502(l)	No	9 §4502(l)
Virginia	0	No				No		No
Washington	0	✓ Yes	§26.04.010(6)	https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=26.04.010	§26.04.010(5)	No	§26.04.010(6)	No	§26.04.010(6)
West Virginia	0	No				No		No
Wisconsin	0	No				No		No
Wyoming	0	No				No		No

Note on citations:
Where multiple laws are cited, the link is for the first listed. To find subsequent laws -or- in cases where a state's laws are not possible to link to directly, use the citation number to manually navigate to the statute of interest. For more precise information on citations as well as our reasoning behind each score, download the full data set which includes additional research notes.

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