Today In History: 12 Years Sce Massachetts Beme First State To Legalize Gay Marriage

Contents:

• WAS THE REACTN TO GAY MARRIAGE IN '04 DIFFERENT?
• MASSACHETTS PERFORMS FIRST GAY MARRIAG
• GAY RIGHTS LEAP FORWARD AS MASSACHETTS BE THE STATE OF WEDD BLISS
• REFLECTG ON MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC GAY RIGHTS LG, 15 YEARS LATER: ANALYSIS
• LAWYER REFLECTS ON NATN'S FIRST GAY MARRIAG: 'THE CAGE HAD BEEN LIFTED'
• GAY MARRIAGE
• TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 YEARS SCE MASSACHETTS BEME FIRST STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• 15 YEARS LATER, GAY UPLE RELLS THEIR ROLE MASSACHETTS' HISTORIC MARRIAGE LG
• MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW
• MASSACHUSETTS GIVES NEW PUSH TO GAY MARRIAGE
• 10 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS

WAS THE REACTN TO GAY MARRIAGE IN '04 DIFFERENT?

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.

MASSACHETTS PERFORMS FIRST GAY MARRIAG

''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.

''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. Massachetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage 2004, when the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court ced the nstutn's ban on the creatn of send class cizens and stck down the state's gay marriage ban. Plowman/Getty Imag News/Getty ImagDarren McCollter/Getty Imag News/Getty ImagBy the end of the day, all seven gay upl volved the Massachetts urt se that challenged the state's ban on same-sex marriage had fally been wed, acrdg to the Post.

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.

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

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.

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

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. 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. "Lol legislators, natnal policians and rightwg lobbyists have all sought va to reverse the urt's cisn or rce s impact, while gay activists across the untry have tried to palise on the lg to tt the boundari other stat.

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

A mayor New York state is beg prosecuted after performg gay marriag fal effort to block gay marriage Massachetts failed on Friday, when the US Supreme Court risted a last-mute legal challenge filed by nservative opponents of same-sex weddgs.

A feral appeals urt has agreed to hear the se next month, but by that time clerks will probably have granted hundreds of marriage licenc to homosexual majory of Amerins are agast gay marriage but favour of civil unns for same-sex upl. Print Gee Bh has announced that he will support an effort to amend the nstutn to fe marriage as an exclively heterosexual Democratic challenger, John Kerry, a senator om Massachetts, is also opposed to gay marriage. Dpe protts om the state ernor, Mt Romney, some of tomorrow's licenc will be granted to out-of-state gay upl who have travelled to Massachetts specifilly to get Romney tried to rurrect an almost century-old law to stop such unns, sayg he was aaid his state uld bee "the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage" clerks noted that the statute qutn had not been applied to heterosexual upl for many years, and plan to issue licenc to all gay upl om outsi the state who requt them.

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.

GAY MARRIAGE

"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".

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.

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

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. Durg the first ssn, an timated 3, 700 people -- lobbyists and protters, young and old, gays and straights -- crammed to the State Hoe, lg the lobby, stairwells and jt about anywhere there was room. Last week's lg was rponse to a qutn om the state Senate on whether civil unns for gay upl would be sufficient to meet the urt's 4-3 November cisn that gays and lbians nnot be forbidn om jog civil marriag unr the Massachetts Constutn.

The proposed feral amendment would forbid stat om allowg gay marriag but perm them to pass laws allowg civil unns and same-sex legal partnership arrangements, as are now allowed California and Vermont.

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. 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.

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

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.

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. 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. Early Fights Barney Frank, an openly gay former ngrsman, lls Bonto "the LGBT muny's equivalent of Thurgood Marshall" — a brilliant polil strategist for the way she methodilly built the se for gay marriage, one state at a time.

MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW

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.

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.

MASSACHUSETTS GIVES NEW PUSH TO GAY MARRIAGE

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs. 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.

10 YEARS OF GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS

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.

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. In 2014, Adam Reilly wrote about how Massachetts ma gay policians mastream: om Charlie Baker mpaigng wh his openly gay brother, to Mra Healey beg elected to Attorney General ltle notice of her sexualy. Hillary and her partner, Julie Goodridge, left, the lead platiffs the Massachetts gay marriage lawsu, fill out their marriage license applitn, wh Boston Mayor Tom Meno lookg over their shoulr, at Boston Cy Hall Boston, Monday May 17, 2004.