Gay Marriage Timele | Pew Rearch Center

Contents:

• WATCH: TV'S FIRST GAY WEDDG IS A PERFECT SUMMATN OF HOW FAR AMERI HAS E
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE
• GAY WEDDGS

WATCH: TV'S FIRST GAY WEDDG IS A PERFECT SUMMATN OF HOW FAR AMERI HAS E

(The Goln Girls had aired a gay "mment ceremony" earlier 1991, but the word marriage wasn't said.

GAY MARRIAGE

Near the end of the episo, Roc says he's not yet fortable wh his uncle beg gay, but he's learng to be "fortable wh beg unfortable, " which is a big step for him. "Can't Help" is chock full of the sorts of easy gay jok that typified a lot of '90s edi featurg gay characters. At one pot, Andrew sists that he didn't thk black people uld be gay, bee they weren't scend om "sissy" Europeans.

When Andrew tells him this is jt a phase, spurred by havg married an "ugly woman, " Rsell says that, no, he's been gay his whole life and jt lyg to himself. What ma the battle for gay rights so different was that anybody uld be gay, so, siarly, anybody uld be prejudiced. The characters don't make all of the way to full acceptance of gay rights by the end of the episo.

" Roc posns the fight for gay rights as on a ntuum wh all other civil rights battl, and that was somethg few other elements of pop culture were alg wh at the time. Beg homophobic is simple when you don't know any gay people.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

It's far more plited when your own brother or uncle is gay. 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 WEDDGS

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. 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. The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U.

Bh—that would outlaw gay marriage across the untry. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage. 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.