Lawyer Reflects On Natn's First Gay Marriag: 'The Cage Had Been Lifted' : NPR

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS LEAP FORWARD AS MASSACHETTS BE THE STATE OF WEDD BLISS
• MASSACHETTS PERFORMS FIRST GAY MARRIAG
• REFLECTG ON MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC GAY RIGHTS LG, 15 YEARS LATER: ANALYSIS
• 10 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS
• LAWYER REFLECTS ON NATN'S FIRST GAY MARRIAG: 'THE CAGE HAD BEEN LIFTED'
• WAS THE REACTN TO GAY MARRIAGE IN '04 DIFFERENT?
• TEN YEARS AGO, MASSACHETTS TRODUCED TO GAY MARRIAGE

GAY RIGHTS LEAP FORWARD AS MASSACHETTS BE THE STATE OF WEDD BLISS

The road to marriage equaly began April 2001 when Gay and Lbian Advot and Defenrs, a nonprof group of attorneys that works on LBGTQIA+ issu, started a su agast the Massachetts Department of Public Health on behalf of seven gay and lbian upl who had been nied marriage licens. Michelle Johnson and Myrna Greenfield joed dozens of other same-sex upl to be married the night gay marriage was legalized Massachetts.

MASSACHETTS PERFORMS FIRST GAY MARRIAG

“I have been really pleasantly surprised at how differently people treat you when you're officially married and how eager and willg people have been to wele gay people to the fold, ” said Myrna Greenfield, Johnson’s wife. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSAME-SEX MARRIAGE: THE OVERVIEWMay 18, 2004Correctn AppendHundreds of gay and lbian upl streamed to cy halls om Boston to the Berkshir on Monday as Massachetts beme the first state to allow same-sex marriag. It was unclear how many same-sex upl sought licens here Monday, but at least 900 upl showed up 29 of the state's 351 ci and towns, acrdg to town clerks and the office of the secretary of the were small monstratns by opponents of gay marriage -- and mera crews om a natnal nservative anizatn, the Fay Rearch Council, gathered imag to e anti-gay marriage the seeds of a full-fledged nflict were planted on Monday by sr of out-of-state upl who me to Massachetts to apply for marriage licens spe Gov.

''Here e the bris, so gay wh pri, isn't a wonr that they somehow survived, '' sang the guts at the weddg of the lead platiffs, Julie and Hillary Goodridge, who wore Armani pantsus and assigned their 8-year-old dghter Annie to be rg bearer and flower girl.

In ral Rehoboth, home of a state reprentative who sponsored a nstutnal amendment to ban gay marriage, the town clerk said one uple had lled at 8 a. M., but the office was not yet open and they apparently went Drkwe of Rehoboth, who said he works a liquor store, said he was ''embarrassed'' that the state legalized gay marriage. ''I believe that a man and a woman are meant to f together, physilly and emotnal, '' he Boston, where large crowds of gay marriage supporters cheered each same-sex uple as they left Cy Hall, a small group of opponents om Washgton, D.

REFLECTG ON MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC GAY RIGHTS LG, 15 YEARS LATER: ANALYSIS

(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. 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.

10 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS

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. 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. And as the clock ched towards midnight, on the steps of the cy hall Cambridge, Massachetts, gay upl who had been relatnships for years unted down the sends to the moment when their unns would be legally the clock stck 12 they ma history as the cy hall clerks threw open the doors to more than 260 same-sex upl to fill out marriage licence forms, makg Massachetts the first state the US to legally sanctn same-sex Hams and San Shepherd were first le, havg qued all day on Sunday.

"An anti-gay backlash had been feared but did not materialise on the night, although a handful of protters, some of whom had travelled om as far as Kansas, rried banners clarg "God hat fags" and ma their views known the rdoned-off "first amendment zone".

LAWYER REFLECTS ON NATN'S FIRST GAY MARRIAG: 'THE CAGE HAD BEEN LIFTED'

Massachetts jos the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada's three most populo provc as one of the few plac the world where gay marriag are prospect of weddg bells chimg also set sh tills rgg, as bs sought to make the most of a market which, acrdg to Forb magaze, uld be worth around $16. "Everybody knows this is where the money is, bee gays generally have more disposable e, " Nancy Levy, the -owner of the event planng firm Weddgtown USA, told USA Today.

Gay marriage has bee the touchstone social issue the forthg electns, wh both printial ndidat opposed and Print Gee Bh sayg he will support an amendment to change the nstutn to fe marriage as a heterosexual is still not clear whether same-sex marriag Massachetts will be regnised elsewhere the untry, particularly stat which have nstutnally exclud them.

A Gallup poll released yterday showed that sce December support for gay marriage has grown om 31% to 42%, while the number of those agast has fallen om 65% to 55%.

WAS THE REACTN TO GAY MARRIAGE IN '04 DIFFERENT?

MASSACHUSETTS: The Legislature, which March passed a proposed amendment to the state nstutn that would ban gay marriag but legalize Vermont-style civil unns, will aga take up the proposed amendment the 2005-06 ssn. THE STATES: At least six stat will have ems on their ballots this fall proposg to amend their state nstutns to strengthen existg bans on gay marriage and specify that gay marriag om other stat would not be regnized.

THE COURTS: Lawsus have been filed several stat on behalf of gays seekg the right to marry, and more lawsus are likely to arise on behalf of upl married Massachetts who want their unns regnized elsewhere. BOSTON, Massachetts (CNN) -- Massachetts fed a new chapter civil rights history Monday as same-sex upl began exchangg weddg vows, markg the first time a state has granted gays and lbians the right to upl filled Boston's Cy Hall to receive marriage licens, Print Bh reissued what he termed an "urgent" ll for such marriag to be banned unr the Constutn. He lled on urt clerks to ask same-sex upl to state that they eher live Massachetts or tend to live the state orr to receive a clerks refed, and out-of-state upl were expected to mount legal challeng to the 1913 Alliance for Marriage, which has anized ralli opposg same-sex marriage, had said earlier would not prott Bonto, an attorney wh Gay and Lbian Advot and Defenrs, lled Monday a "historic day" durg which rights were extend.

TEN YEARS AGO, MASSACHETTS TRODUCED TO GAY MARRIAGE

CAMBRIDGE, Massachetts (CNN) -- The champagne is chilled, the k are osted, and gay and lbian upl across Massachetts are ready to make history Monday by sayg "I do.

"To have the hight urt the state affirm your right to be a fay was wonrful, and jt gave you urage, " said Marcia Hams, who mped out ont of Cambridge Cy Hall on Sunday wh her bri-to-be, San Shepherd, to be the first le to apply for a marriage ci and towns the Bay State, cludg Cambridge, cid to open their licensg offic Sunday night so they uld beg handg out same-sex marriage applitns after midnight, when they bee the stroke of midnight, thoands of people broke to cheers as cy clerks Cambridge issued the first marriage license applitns to to gay and lbian and Shepherd were the first uple to fill out the crowd around Cambridge Cy Hall began throwg rice and sgg "The Star-Spangled Banner" as upl streamed through the ont door and to the clerk's male uple rried a sign readg "49 years together" wh pictur of their children and grandchildren on the the applitns are hand, upl will eher have to wa three days, or seek a waiver of the wag perd om a judge, before they n get a license to marry. The cisn on whether to grant a waiver is up to each dividual same-sex marriag Monday will mark a tone the gay rights movement, the culmatn of more than a of legal challeng across the untry to laws limg marriage to upl of the oppose social nservativ, too, have been galvanized by the specter of same-sex marriag, anizg support of a feral nstutnal amendment outlawg the practice, as well as amendments a number of stat that would stop other urts om followg Massachetts' issue has also bee fodr for the printial race. But while Bh favors amendg the Constutn, Kerry is opposed and says he supports civil unns for gay and lbian further fuel to the ntroversy is the fact that the natn's first same-sex marriag will take place Kerry's home show that a majory of Amerins oppose lettg gay and lbian upl legally marry.

It layed the effective date of the cisn until Monday, to give the Legislature the opportuny to change the Legislature stead passed a nstutnal amendment that would overturn the urt's cisn, prohibg same-sex marriag but allowg civil unns for gay and lbian upl. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMay 17, 2004Agast a backdrop of whoops and cheers and a party that spilled onto the streets, gay and lbian upl here began fillg out applitns for marriage licens at 12:01 a. The uple, together sce they met while workg as machists 27 years ago, said they had been asked, bee of the length of their relatnship, to be the first uple by a lol gay rights anizatn.

''The stage for Monday's cultural watershed was set November, when the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court led, a lawsu brought by seven same-sex upl, that gays and lbians had a nstutnal right to marry. The urt set May 17 as the day the marriag uld beg, and told the state Legislature to take whatever actn saw f to ply wh the urt's the Legislature, wh a large number of Democrats who are agast gay marriage, some bee of their Catholic fah, was not pleased wh the urt's 4-to-3 cisn. In a bgly dismissive rponse Febary, the urt said, a seri of marathon nstutnal nventns, marked by emotnal oratory, filibterg and back-room bargag, the legislature voted late March to approve a nstutnal amendment that would ban gay marriage and tablish civil amendment nnot take effect unls is approved by another ssn of the Legislature and then by voters 2006, so uld not hold up the start of same-sex certa target of lawsus is a 1913 law that Gov.

Ment, print of the Massachetts Jtic of the Peace at least one jtice of the peace applied for that job orr to be able to solemnize gay marriag. Mary Sorrell, 43, of Amherst, beme a jtice of the peace Febary and planned to be at the cy clerk's office Northampton, a gay-iendly llege town, at 5 a. Martorano upl who me to Cambridge Sunday night were enthiastic, but also sober, anticipatg cultural and enomic roadblocks ahead, and acutely aware of their role as reprentativ of a new era for gays and lbians.

Dunbar's employer was thkg of disntug health benefs for domtic partners, so that gay partners, like heterosexuals, uld receive health benefs only if married. Hundreds of gay and lbian upl will exchange weddg vows and obta marriage licenc today, as Massachetts be the first US state legally to sanctn gay an electn-year tone, the clerk's office Cambridge was due to open s doors at midnight last night for applitns om same-sex upl, while seven upl who succsfully sued for the right to marry will wed Boston.