Same-sex marriage in South Dakota

Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Dakota since June 26, 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the U.S. Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry. Attorney General Marty Jackley issued a statement critical of the ruling but said that the state would comply and recognize same-sex marriages. Prior to this, a lawsuit seeking to declare the ban unconstitutional, Rosenbrahn v. Daugaard, had been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in May 2014. On January 12, 2015, Judge Karen Schreier ruled for the plaintiffs, finding that South Dakota was depriving them of their fundamental right to marry. The state appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which suspended proceedings in April 2015 pending the outcome of Obergefell. Following the Supreme Court ruling, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgement of the district court.

Previously, South Dakota had restricted marriage to the "union of a man and a woman" both by statute and in its State Constitution. Polling suggests that a majority of South Dakota residents support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Despite this, a number of Republican politicians have continued to introduce motions urging the overturning of Obergefell.

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