15 years later, gay uple rells their role Massachetts' historic marriage lg

Contents:

• HOW DID GAY MARRIAGE HAPPEN MASSACHETTS FIRST?
• 15 YEARS LATER, GAY UPLE RELLS THEIR ROLE MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC MARRIAGE LG
• THE NEW NORMAL: LSONS OM MASSACHETTS ON GAY MARRIAGE — AND DIVORCE
• NUMBERS SHOW HOW GAY MARRIAGE HAS FARED MASSACHETTS
• WHERE IT BEGAN: MASS. REACTS TO SUPREME COURT'S LANDMARK GAY MARRIAGE RULG
• GAY MARRIAGE
• MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW
• MASSACHETTS GAY MARRIAGE REFERENDUM IS REJECTED

HOW DID GAY MARRIAGE HAPPEN MASSACHETTS FIRST?

Massachetts' "gay marriage" cisn. Hog and mortgag for gay and lbian upl, Mortgage .

How to get married Massachetts, Gay and Lbian Advot and Defenrs (GLAD), July 2015. A legal gui for lbian and gay upl by Frerick Hertz, Nolo, 2020. Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr fay law, Thomson Rters, Annual.

Morn fai: effective advocy for lbian and gay clients, MCLE, 2013.

15 YEARS LATER, GAY UPLE RELLS THEIR ROLE MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC MARRIAGE LG

“The Supreme Court’s cisn is a huge victory for same-sex upl the US that will reverberate many untri that still ny people the right to marry the person they love, ” said Boris Dtrich, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights advocy director at Human Rights Watch. The Supreme Court’s cisn overturns the lower urt’s cisn, lg that the bans vlated the nstutnal right of gays and lbians to equal protectn unr the law. What do gay marriage have mon wh “Spotlight, ” a famo movie about this newspaper?

Certaly, any ntroversial se, such as gay marriage or a cisn to go agast a powerful stutn, judg are well aware that their cisns might be cricized or worse. Of the four Supreme Judicial Court jtic who voted favor of gay marriage, one was nomated by a Democratic ernor and three were nomated by Republin ernors; none was removed om we start this new , let’s acknowledge the wisdom of Massachetts’ nstutnal founrs who blsed wh a judicial stcture that endur. But gay uple Robert Compton and David Wilson, now happily married, n still remember how they cried when they heard the news.

They me out late, and were exced to get a new start on they met 1997 at a nventn for gay fathers Boston, there was an stant nnectn. They ma their vows durg a mment ceremony at Boston’s Arlgton Street Church 2000 ont of iends and 2001, the Massachetts-based gay rights anizatn Gay and Lbian Advot and Defenrs, or GLAD, asked the pair to be a part of the Goodridge lawsu. The uple relled anti-gay-marriage protters outsi the urthoe wavg picket signs wh hateful slogans like “God hat fags.

THE NEW NORMAL: LSONS OM MASSACHETTS ON GAY MARRIAGE — AND DIVORCE

“When you actually started to see your fay, iends, neighbors get married and live their liv, and see jt how siar our fai are to other married fai, really started to stroy the wall of myths that our opponents had tried to create around the alleged negative effects of marriage equaly, bee was there person, right ont of you, ” Silva, three years after the Supreme Court's 2015 cisn legalizg same-sex marriage across the natn — and 15 years after Massachetts did so for s rints — two three Amerins support gay marriage, acrdg to a recent Gallup days, marriage equaly feels more or ls normal to Wilson and Compton, who will celebrate their 15th anniversary broar fight for LGBTQ equaly, however, ntu, warned Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, a natnal LGBTQ rights group.

NUMBERS SHOW HOW GAY MARRIAGE HAS FARED MASSACHETTS

Warbelow also poted to recent bills Kansas and Oklahoma that would give fah-based adoptn agenci the abily to ny adoptn to gay and lbian upl. The days, the earlit pneers gay and lbian matrimony are monstratg how to raise kids, retire — even divorce.

As the Supreme Court wrtl wh what Chief Jtice John Roberts last month labeled a refn of marriage, the upl who succsfully challenged the Bay State’s ban on gay marriage 2003 are jugglg work and retirement, raisg kids who turn down Ivy League lleg and holdg joyful fay rnns. He’s proud of the role his parents, the former Heidi Norton and Ga Smh, played the evolutn of gay marriage.

The Nortonsmhs and their 12 platiffs celebrated their 11th weddg anniversari Sunday, the date on which the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court allowed gays and lbians to wed 2004.

WHERE IT BEGAN: MASS. REACTS TO SUPREME COURT'S LANDMARK GAY MARRIAGE RULG

But like many of the upl challengg other stat’ gaymarriage bans, their relatnships date back s. At the moment they were reced as lead platiffs by Mary Bonto, a lear of the gay marriage movement, Hillary was givg their dghter Annie a bath.

“We are a noticeable gay uple, ” Wilson said last week while relaxg Provcetown, the state’s gay and lbian mec at the far end of Cape Cod. The animosy they enuntered while challengg the state’s gay marriage ban more than a ago has fad, however, replaced by acceptance and even nversn.

GAY MARRIAGE

Perhaps the bt thg that has happened to the natn’s first victor gay marriage platiffs is that they are no longer regnized, and their marriag are no longer seen as a big al.

That’s certaly te for Ellen Wa and Mreen Brodoff, a pair of lawyers who brought the lawsu over samex adoptn the 1990s before jog the gay marriage se 2001.

Julie Goodridge, left, and her partner Hillary, platiffs the Massachetts gay marriage lawsu, speak to reporters Wednday.

MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW

Massachetts is the first state to le that gay upl have a right to marry. (CNN) -- Unrsrg s origal lg last November, Massachetts' hight urt said Wednday that only full marriage rights for gay upl, not civil unns, would nform to the state's nstutn.

In his State of the Unn addrs January 20, the print stopped short of endorsg a nstutnal amendment that would ban marriag for gay and lbian upl, as social nservative groups had hoped. Wednday's advisory opn by the Massachetts urt was rponse to a requt om that state's Senate about whether allowg gays to jo civil unns would be sufficient.

In November, the Massachetts high urt cleared the way for lbian and gay upl the state to marry, lg 4-3 that monwealth attorneys "failed to intify any nstutnally aquate reason" to ny them the right.

MASSACHETTS GAY MARRIAGE REFERENDUM IS REJECTED

The state Senate then asked the urt whether the monwealth uld satisfy s nstutnal ncerns by grantg civil unns to gays and lbians, but forbiddg them om obtag civil marriage licens. The November lg Massachetts, as well as the grantg of marriag to gay upl Canada, set off a bate the Uned Stat and among the Democratic printial ndidat. John Kerry is om Massachetts and do not support gay marriage but do support civil unns.

Last year, California's State Assembly passed a domtic partnership law to provi siar benefs, but that law stops short of allowg gays to marry. Several other stat have granted limed marriage benefs to gays but lled them domtic partnerships. April 11, 2001: After featg several attempts to pass anti-marriage legislatn Massachetts, same-sex upl and Gay & Lbian Advot & Defenrs file a legal se seekg the eedom to marry Massachetts.

Gay & Lbian Advot & Defenrs is New England's leadg legal rights anizatn dited to endg discrimatn based on sexual orientatn, HIV stat and genr inty and exprsn. We saw stat before Obergefell, some stat were movg to allow gay marriage, other stat were movg to allow civil partnerships. :Clarence Thomas lls for Supreme Court to 'rensir' gay marriage, ntraceptn'New era' or 'dark day'?