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

Contents:

• 15 YEARS LATER, GAY UPLE RELLS THEIR ROLE MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC MARRIAGE LG
• REFLECTG ON MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC GAY RIGHTS LG, 15 YEARS LATER: ANALYSIS
• MASSACHETTS HIGH COURT DECISN CLEARS PATH FOR GAY MARRIAG
• MASSACHETTS COURT RUL BAN ON GAY MARRIAGE UNNSTUTNAL
• WHERE IT BEGAN: MASS. REACTS TO SUPREME COURT'S LANDMARK GAY MARRIAGE RULG
• MASSACHETTS GAY MARRIAGE DECISN
• GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS
• TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 YEARS SCE MASSACHETTS BEME FIRST STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• SUPREME COURT RUL ON GAY MARRIAGE – HIGHLIGHTS
• LAWYER REFLECTS ON NATN'S FIRST GAY MARRIAG: 'THE CAGE HAD BEEN LIFTED'
• FORMER MASS. CHIEF JTICE ON LIFE, LIBERTY AND GAY MARRIAGE
• MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW
• HOW DID GAY MARRIAGE HAPPEN MASSACHETTS FIRST?

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

How to get married Massachetts, Gay and Lbian Advot and Defenrs (GLAD), July 2015. 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.

“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. 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.

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

The uple relled anti-gay-marriage protters outsi the urthoe wavg picket signs wh hateful slogans like “God hat fags. “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. 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.

A first csh of 41 upl led up the middle of the night to be the first gays and lbians to be legally married the Uned Stat, wh some of the platiffs the urt se gettg ont-of-the-le scene was jubilant. A small group of protters was drowned out by an exuberant crowd of gay activists and cur lols who had gathered unr the brightly l ancient bell tower Central Square to wns 15 years’ remove om that moment, ’s difficult to remember how uncerta all a few months earlier, San Francis Mayor Gav Newsom had orred that marriage licens be issued to gay upl – only to have the California Supreme Court later validate them and the marriag that had been the Whe Hoe, Print Gee W.

Bh lled the Massachetts urt lg “eply troublg” and voiced support for a nstutnal amendment to ban gay marriage Massachetts, Republin Gov. Romney would not make easy for gay upl; among other burecratic obstacl, he voked a 90-year-old state law that had been wrten to block terracial marriage to prevent same-sex upl om other stat om g to the Bay State to men wearg wa outsi Town Hall, where same-sex upl om across the untry gathered May 17, 2004, Provcetown, Mass. Allowg gay upl to marry wasn’t a mastream posn eher polil party back John Kerry – then a senator om Massachetts, and the Democratic printial nomee 2004 – opposed gay marriage throughout his mpaign, favorg civil unns stead, what was viewed as a progrsive posn at the time.

MASSACHETTS HIGH COURT DECISN CLEARS PATH FOR GAY MARRIAG

A full printial cycle later, ndidate Barack Obama and his nng mate, Joe Bin, opposed natnwi gay marriage favor of civil unns.

I am not favor of gay marriage, ” Obama said November 2008 – on the eve of his would take another four years -- and fully eight years after weddg bells first chimed for same-sex upl Massachetts -- before Bin pronounced himself fortable wh gay marriage.

MASSACHETTS COURT RUL BAN ON GAY MARRIAGE UNNSTUTNAL

Obama – then nng for reelectn – followed su, acknowledgg an “evolutn” on the issue an terview wh ABC News’ Rob Roberts that ma him the first print to support gay upl fill out qutns about rincy on their applitn forms as they apply for marriage licens at the Cy Clerk's office Northampton, Mass., May 17, Jimenez/Getty Imag, FILEEven at that time, 2012, gay marriage was legal only six stat pl the District of Columbia. The landmark Supreme Court se tablishg a fundamental right to marry me 2015 – effectively endg a polil bate ma more urgent on those urthoe steps 11 years, 2019, an openly gay printial ndidate has been featured on the ver of Time magaze alongsi his hband. The Republin print he might n agast said, jt this week, he thks “’s great” that a married gay man is a pure historil cince, May 2004 Pete Buttigieg was an unrgrad at Harvard – the very cy, Cambridge, where the midnight marriage licens were issued.

I wish I uld ask them now if they fd even more remarkable that the polics around gay marriage have moved as quickly as they have sce that day.

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

“The dissiu between the terms ‘civil marriage’ and ‘civil unn’ is not nocuo; is a nsired choice of language that reflects a monstrable assigng of same-sex, largely homosexual, upl to send-class stat, ” the opn read. Whe Hoe spokman Stt McClellan rpond to Wednday’s lg by reaffirmg Print Bh’s opposn to gay marriage. The Oh law, however, also would prohib state agenci om grantg civil unn rights to both homosexual and heterosexual domtic partners.

MASSACHETTS GAY MARRIAGE DECISN

While seen as a victory for gay rights advot, the cisn self do not make immediately possible for seven same-sex upl who sued the state to receive marriage licens sce the urt left the tails of the issue to the legislature. Attorney Mary Bonto, who reprented the seven gay upl who sued the state, said the only task the urt assigned to state lawmakers is to e up wh chang state law that will allow gay upl to marry by the end of the 180-day perd.

“This is a very good day for gay and lbian fai Massachetts and throughout the untry, ” Bonto said. The Massachetts se began 2001, when seven gay upl went to their cy and town halls to obta marriage licens.

GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS

The upl appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court after a Suffolk Superr Court judge threw out the se 2002, lg that nothg state law giv gay upl the right to marry.

Gay and lbian advot the Uned Stat had been cheered by a seri of advanc this year, cludg a U. Supreme Court cisn strikg down anti-sodomy laws and the ordatn of an openly gay bishop the Epispal Church. 04:23Download AudCopy the below to embed the WBUR d player on your seRumeState Attorney General Mra Healey, who is gay, lds the Supreme Court's cisn to make same-sex marriage legal all 50 stat, at a news nference at her Boston office Friday.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 YEARS SCE MASSACHETTS BEME FIRST STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE

(Jse Costa/WBUR)Fourteen years ago, David Wilson and Rob Compton joed six other gay upl to beg planng a lawsu that would mand the right to marry Massachetts. There were stori about upl who uldn't -sign a mortgage or vis a partner the hospal or attend to funeral Wilson and others me out to iends, lleagu and legislators, Massachetts rints realized "that we were every fay, " he left: Rob Compton, attorney Mary Bonto and David Wilson at a Whe Hoe LGBT event this week (Courty of David Wilson)As gay marriage beme more route, "that’s when this really began to pick up steam, " said Boston attorney Mary Bonto, who argued the se for gay marriage Massachetts and before the U. "I hope that now we have that opportuny for people around the natn, for people who are still skeptil, and hopefully their fears will fall away, " Bonto said after the cisn on for some Massachetts who have fought gay marriage for more than a , the Supreme Court's 5-4 lg is a major setback.

SUPREME COURT RUL ON GAY MARRIAGE – HIGHLIGHTS

"Wh the urt’s cisn, we see the pletn of a natnwi erosn of the people’s right to ci for themselv what marriage is, and unfortunately that started right here Massachetts, " said Andrew Beckwh, print of the Massachetts Fay Instute, referrg to a vote the Legislature that prevented a statewi vote on gay marriage. Beckwh says he’s worried now that some Christians will be forced to acmodate gays and lbians, and regnize same-sex marriag, even if dog so go agast their fah. "The Supreme Court’s gay marriage cisn clus one paragraph (on page 27) that affirms the First Amendment protectn for relig stutns.

(Jse Costa/WBUR)Other parts of the Supreme Court cisn are already makg their way to gay marriage weddg programs. Wilson plans to read a paragraph om the Massachetts gay marriage cisn that is quoted the majory opn wrten by Jtice Anthony Kennedy.

Marshall is often asked if she's surprised that legal protectn for gay marriage spread across the untry jt a .

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

"For Wilson, a feral lg that acknowledg gay marriage means that he and his hband n travel and not worry that one of them will be blocked om a hospal room the event of a medil emergency. Bonto and Massachetts Attorney General Mra Healey say the next step will be legal actn to protect the civil rights of the gay and transgenr muny.

The hight urt Massachetts l that, most s, gay and lbian partners om out of state are not wele to marry Massachetts, which has legalized gay marriage for -state partners. First to Massachetts, same-sex upl who don't live that state nnot get married there, unls gay marriage is legal where they live. KEN: Well, don't have a direct effect on the bate eher those stat where there are antigay marriage amendments that are about to be voted on November.

It don't have an immediate bearg on those stat where there are gay marriage s pendg the urts right now, seven such stat. But if a state were to regnize same-sex marriage, say California, or say New York, where s are pendg, opponents of gay marriage uld try to get one of the laws passed, so as to lim the impact of that kd of lg.

FORMER MASS. CHIEF JTICE ON LIFE, LIBERTY AND GAY MARRIAGE

The state's lg has brought the legal and polil bate over gay marriage to the natnal level.. I really thk at this pot that gay marriage is evable, that the legal arguments for this type of discrimatn are unstaable and you look no further than the U. Supreme Court, which ed very siar reasong strikg down the Texas sodomy laws, namely sayg that you nnot draw a distctn — the state is not a posn to draw a distctn between heterosexual and homosexual nduct as well as the rights and rponsibili they have.

MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW

The dissenters I thought had a pretty good argument that — you read the dissents; you don't fd any argument, any cricism of gay relatnships. Michael Ryan, your paper, the Augta Chronicle, is firmly agast gay marriage even agast civil unns. Third uld ironilly hurt the gay e by attemptg to force on the public unwillg.

There is not even a parison to be ma between this strikg down of discrimatory laws banng terracial marriag and gay marriag.

A recent one by the Pew Rearch Center says that nearly 60 percent of the rponnts that they talked to oppose gay marriage.

HOW DID GAY MARRIAGE HAPPEN MASSACHETTS FIRST?

I really thk rponse to the prev ments that the amer would be aghast at the ia of a nstutnal amendment to rtrict the rights of gays and lbians to marry.