If N.Y. bill passes, over 11% of Americans would be eligible for same-sex marriage

By Forrest Brown -

Opponents of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York gathered in the state capitol building Monday.

Should New York become the sixth state to grant same-sex marriage licenses, it would more than double the U.S. population eligible to enter such a union.

Five states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire - and the District of Columbia currently grant same-sex marriage licenses. The combined population of those states and D.C. is 15,712,015, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau for 2010.
With the official U.S. population at 308,745,538, that means 5.08% of the population of America is eligible - upon meeting a state's age and other legal requirements - to marry a person of the same sex.
New York's population in the 2010 census is 19,378,102. If the same-sex marriage bill in New York passes, that would more than double the number of people eligible to 35,090,117.
That means 11.37% of the U.S. population would then be living in a state that grants same-sex marriage licenses.
The New York Senate failed to bring to the floor a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage Monday, but talks will continue Tuesday, according to a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Here's the 2010 population figures for the five states and District of Columbia:
Connecticut - 3,574,097
District of Columbia - 601,723
Iowa - 3,046,355
Massachusetts - 6,547,629
New Hampshire - 1,316,470
Vermont - 625,741