They told me they would like to start a family but worry about both of them getting custody, since Mississippi bans adoption by same-sex parents.

CNN: Gay marriage hasn't won (yet...)

More than two thirds (69%) of the girls agreed that some types of families were treated less fairly, such as single parents and same-sex parents or parents who were not married.

BBC: Marriage no longer a key goal for girls, survey suggests

Myriad cases have come before the courts concerning not just counselling or civil partnerships but such issues as the placing of children for adoption by same-sex parents and the turning away of gay couples from guesthouses.

BBC: Analysis: Milestone left in Christian-secular debate

At a meeting between lawmakers and Mr Putin in Moscow, Marina Orgeyeva, speaker of the regional assembly in Kaliningrad, suggested making changes to adoption agreements with France to ensure that Russian children were not adopted by same-sex parents.

BBC: Putin rejects foreign adoptions by same-sex couples

Yet the Supreme Court has been solemnly assured by many scientific organizations, such as the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, that the overwhelming weight of evidence indicates that same-sex couples are every bit the equal of opposite-sex parents in every relevant respect.

WSJ: Nelson Lund: A Social Experiment Without Science Behind It

With the mix of laws on the books in this country, simply crossing a state border from a state that recognizes the marriage of a same-sex couple to one that doesn't can mean the step- and adoptive-parents can suddenly become legal strangers to them.

CNN: The real 'modern family' in America