Since 2004, 37 individual states have legalized same-sex marriage. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marriage in accordance with the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Meanwhile, sexual orientation-related hate crime persists. Given the negative reaction to the Supreme Court ruling in some groups, it is possible there may be an increase in hate-based violence. Utilizing state-level panel data primarily from the Uniform Crime Reports and the Census for 2000 through 2013, I estimate the effect of legalizing same-sex marriage on hate crime rates. After implementing state-level and year-level fixed effects, my difference-in-difference results indicate legalizing same-sex marriage leads to a statistically significant decrease in the hate crime rate.
