Same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania became legal on May 20, 2014, when a U.S. federal district court judge ruled that the Commonwealth's 1996 statutory ban on recognizing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The state had prohibited recognition of same-sex marriage by statute since 1996. It had never added such a ban to its state constitution. The state has never recognized civil unions or domestic partnerships and was the last state in the Northeast region where same-sex couples could not legally marry.