Gay Marriage D.C.: One Officiant, Three Months, 44 Same-Sex Weddgs - Washgton Cy Paper

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE D.C.: ONE OFFICIANT, THREE MONTHS, 44 SAME-SEX WEDDGS
• HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

GAY MARRIAGE D.C.: ONE OFFICIANT, THREE MONTHS, 44 SAME-SEX WEDDGS

"The cisn is a victory for gay-rights advocy groups who last year faced the possibily of ballot iativ blockg same-sex elated Aisha Mills, print of the Campaign for All DC Fai, said she is "proud of our officials here who ntue the progrsive legacy of the District of Columbia. DC Elopements is a llective of LGBTQ-iendly weddg officiants who actively serve the LGBTQ+ muny DC, and work to assist upl travelg to the District of Columbia om other areas of the untry where gay marriage is not yet legal. One high-profile opponent of gay rights was sger and former Miss Oklahoma Ana Bryant who found the group Save Our Children and mpaigned to repeal lol ordanc that prohibed discrimatn based on sexual orientatn.

HISTORY OF GAY MARRIAGE

Although a gay marriage was never performed Hawaii, the issue gaed natnal attentn and prompted over 40 stat over the next to pass Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) that fed marriage as a legal unn between one man and one woman.

The feral DOMA statute ensured that no state would be forced to regnize gay marriag performed other stat and prevented same-sex upl om receivg feral protectns and benefs given to married heterosexual upl. 11, 2010, CNN released the rults of the first natnal poll to show a majory support for gay marriage, wh 52% agreeg that “gays and lbians should have a nstutnal right to get married and have their marriage regnized by law as valid. On May 9, 2012, Print Obama beme the first stg US print to clare his support for gay marriage, statg: “At a certa pot, I’ve jt nclud that for me personally is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I thk same-sex upl should be able to get married.

Six other stat which gay marriage bans had been overturned, Colorado, Kansas, North Carola, South Carola, Wt Virgia, and Wyomg, were also affected by the Supreme Court lg bee they were the jurisdictns of the lower urts that had overturned the gay marriage bans.

GAY MARRIAGE

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire. Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.