Road Trip to BC Question 3

I don't remember how or why we came up with these questions. It is your job to comment with the answers. I'll pitch in when I can. This is what we were wondering:

The Big Adventure (or 1,001 questions to ask Google)
3. Is marriage federally or state regulated in the US? Is there a state that has legalized same-sex marriage and, if so, is it Utah? How is polygamy deemed to be illegal in Canada, or is it just that you can't have more than one civil marriage at a time? Can you have multiple religious marriages?
A. In the United States, civil marriage is governed by 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. (Wikipedia)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. States historically exercised this "public policy exception" by refusing to recognize out-of-state polygamous marriages, underage marriages (such as marriages in states with low ages of consent), incestuous marriages (such as uncle-niece marriages, which were legal in some states but not others), and interracial marriages. Following these precedents, nearly all courts that have addressed the issue have held that states with laws against same-sex marriage can refuse to recognize same-sex marriages that were legal where performed.
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in one state. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the Massachusetts constitution requires the state to permit same-sex marriage. The decision could be reversed by an amendment to the state constitution, but so far no amendment barring same-sex marriage has passed in Massachusetts. Several other states including Vermont, California, and Connecticut allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships that provide some or most of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law, but forbid same-sex marriages. More than 20 states have passed state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, and in some cases, civil unions.
Although the states have the primary regulatory power with regard to marriage, the federal legislature has occasionally regulated marriage. The 1862 Morrill Act Of The Bears, which made bigamy a punishable federal offense, was followed by series of federal laws designed to end the practice of polygamy. In reaction to the possibility that same-sex marriage would be legalized in Hawaii, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"), which defines marriage as a legal union of one man and one woman for the purpose of interpreting federal law. Under DOMA, the Federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions, even if those unions are recognized by state law. For example, members of a same-sex couple legally married in Massachusetts cannot file joint federal income taxes even if they file joint state income taxes.