Editing Federal Marriage Amendment (section)

===Role of states===
In the United States, civil marriage is governed by [[State law (United States)|state law]]. Each state is free to set the conditions for a valid marriage, subject to limits set by the state's own constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Traditionally, a marriage was considered valid if the requirements of the marriage law of the state where the marriage took place were fulfilled. (First Restatement of Conflicts on Marriage and Legitimacy s.121 (1934)). However, a state can refuse to recognize a marriage if the marriage violates a strong public policy of the state, even if the marriage was legal in the state where it was performed. (Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 283(2) (1971).) States historically exercised this "public policy exception" by refusing to recognize out-of-state polygamous marriages, underage marriages, incestuous marriages, and interracial marriages. Following the ''Windsor'' decision in 2013, nearly all courts that have addressed the issue have held that states with laws defining marriage as a one-man, one-woman union cannot refuse to recognize same-sex marriages that were legally performed elsewhere and must permit all people, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, the right to marry.<ref name="dodson"/>

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in [[Same-sex marriage in the United States#Tables|all US States]].  In 2003 and 2008 respectively, the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court|Massachusetts]] and [[Supreme Court of California|California]] supreme courts ruled in ''[[Goodridge v. Department of Public Health]]'' and ''[[In Re Marriage Cases]]'' that the states' constitutions required the state to permit same-sex marriage. The Massachusetts decision could be reversed by an amendment to the state constitution; to date, no such amendment has successfully been passed in Massachusetts. On June 2, the [[California Proposition 8|''California Marriage Protection Act'']], commonly referred to as Prop 8 qualified for the 2008 General Election ballot.<ref>[http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm#2008General California 2008 General Election ballot propositions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617213215/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm |date=June 17, 2009 }}</ref> Voted into law on November 4, 2008, it amended the California Constitution to provide that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". Prop 8 was later found to be unconstitutional and same-sex marriage was allowed to resume.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/i737_07-0068_Initiative.pdf |title=California Marriage Protection Act |access-date=June 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721032937/http://www.ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/i737_07-0068_Initiative.pdf |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Thirty states passed state constitutional amendments defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. On June 26, 2015, all amendments banning same-sex marriage were invalidated by the Supreme Court's ruling on ''[[Obergefell v. Hodges]]''.