Although individual probate judges — and the state's chief justice — are defying the order in Alabama, a federal judge has ruled that gay marriages can begin in the state as of today, making Alabama one of 37 states where such unions are legal. And so Alabama does not appear on the above map. In most of the remaining states, courts have ruled on existing gay marriage bans (either upholding or striking them down), but those states are now waiting for the Supreme Court to step in. Much of the progress shown above has come not through ballot initiatives and state laws, but through court rulings.