Same-sex marriage in North Dakota
Same-sex marriage in North Dakota became legal following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in "Obergefell v. Hodges" on June 26, 2015, which invalidated state bans on same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Until then, North Dakota had restricted marriage to the union of one man and one woman both by statute and in its State Constitution. Restrictions on same-sex unions. North Dakota voters adopted a constitutional amendment in November 2004 that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman and prohibited the recognition of same-sex relationships as  well as civil unions and domestic partnerships. Similar restrictions appear in the state statutes as well. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in "Obergefell v. Hodges" on June 26, 2015, a judiciary committee of the North Dakota Legislature began examining the possibility of removing the now invalid statutory and constitutional restrictions on same-sex unions in the state. The committee said it would not make any recommendations until at least January 2017. On January 10, 2017, the North Dakota Senate rejected "Senate Bill 2043", which would have replaced references to "husband and wife" in state statutes with gender-neutral  references to "two people". The bill was rejected by 31 votes to 15, and came after the committee had canvassed the issue though been unable to come to a formal recommendation. Lawsuits. Section::::"Ramsay v. Dalrymple". On June 6, 2014, seven same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit against North Dakota officials seeking the right to marry and recognition of marriages performed in other jurisdictions. Five of the couples had married in other states and one couple in Canada. The suit, "Ramsay v. Dalrymple", was brought by Minneapolis civil rights attorney Joshua A. Newville, who filed a similar lawsuit on behalf  of six same-sex couples in South Dakota on May 22, 2014. First-named defendant Governor Jack Dalrymple filed a motion to dismiss on July 1. The plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment on July 22. Briefing was completed by September 5. Section::::"Jorgensen v. Montplaisir". Lambda Legal filed a similar lawsuit, "Jorgensen v. Montplaisir", on June 9, 2014 on behalf of two women, residents of Fargo, who had married in Minnesota. On January 20, 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson stayed proceedings in both cases pending the outcome of several same-sex marriage cases in the U.S.  Supreme Court. U.S. Supreme Court ruling. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in "Obergefell v. Hodges" that the denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples violates the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Governor Dalrymple issued a one-sentence statement that acknowledged the decision and said the state would comply. Same-sex couples began marrying in North Dakota immediately following the Supreme Court's ruling, with Jesse Masterson and Trever Hill being the first same-sex couple to file marriage paperwork at the Cass County Clerk's  Office on June 26. On June 29, Judge Erickson lifted the stay he had issued in "Jorgensen" and declared North Dakota's constitutional and statutory restrictions on access to marriage by same-sex couples and the recognition of such marriages from other jurisdictions invalid. Native American nations. In August 2020, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians legalized same-sex marriage by a vote of 6–2, the first Native American tribe in North Dakota to do so. The Law and Order Code of the Spirit Lake Tribe states that marriages consummated by tribal custom are valid, but requires that the  parties declare in the presence of the officiant that they take each other as "husband and wife". The Law and Order Code of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe provides that "for a man and a woman to be married under this chapter" they must be at least 18 years old, or 16 if they have obtained the consent of their parents or guardians, and freely consent themselves. The code also states that any marriage validly contracted in the United States, any tribe, state, or foreign nation shall be "for all purposes" recognized as valid by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe . Dakota culture has traditionally recognized two-spirited people who were born male but would wear women's clothing and perform everyday household work and artistic handiwork which were regarded as belonging to the feminine sphere. These two-spirit individuals are known in the Dakota language as (). Many married cisgender men, without indicating of polygyny, but some remained unmarried and lived in their own tipis, and were visited by married men for sexual intercourse when the men's wives were pregnant or menstruating, and therefore when sexual intercourse was forbidden to them. The Hidatsa and the Arikara peoples of the Mandan , Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation similarly traditionally recognized two-spirited people who crossed out of the masculine gender. Hidatsa () would perform handiwork such as beadwork and quillwork. They would also commonly take in orphans from their tribe or children captured on raids, were allowed to access ceremonial groups reserved to women, and were important for the preparation of the traditional Sun Dance. were sometimes wives in polygynous households but also established their own households with older, unmarried, childless men and filled out the household with adoptive children. Two-spirit individuals are known as () in the Arikara language. Marriage statistics. As of  November 30, 2015, approximately 60 marriage licenses had been issued to same-sex couples in the state. Of North Dakota's 53 counties, 18 had issued at least one marriage license to a same-sex couple, with most issued in Cass, Grand Forks, Burleigh and Ward counties. As of January 5, 2016, approximately 75 marriage licenses had been issued to same-sex couples in North Dakota since legalization on June 26, 2015. This accounted for over 1.5% of the number of marriage licenses issued in the state in that time. Public opinion. In a poll conducted by Forum Communications and  the University of North Dakota's College of Business and Public Administration in October 2014, 50% of North Dakota voters opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage and 37% supported it. Some 9% reported they were neutral and 5% had no opinion. According to an earlier report by the Williams Institute, support for same-sex marriage had been 23% in 2004 and 40% in 2012. A poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in 2015 found that 43% of North Dakotans supported same-sex marriage, 44% opposed and 13% did not know or refused to answer. In 2016 , the PRRI found that 46% of North Dakotans supported same-sex marriage, another 46% opposed and 8% were undecided or refused to answer. In 2017, for the first time ever, the PRRI found majority support for same-sex marriage in North Dakota; 53% of respondents agreed that same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, while 35% were opposed and 12% were unsure. A PRRI survey conducted between January 7 and December 20, 2020 on 151 random telephone interviewees showed that 55% of respondents supported same-sex marriage, while 45% were opposed. Same-sex marriage in North Dakota Same