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

Contents:

• MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW
• GAY MARRIAGE
• TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 YEARS SCE MASSACHETTS BEME FIRST STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• 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 MASSACHETTS
• WHERE IT BEGAN: MASS. REACTS TO SUPREME COURT'S LANDMARK GAY MARRIAGE RULG

MASSACHETTS’ GAY MARRIAGE BILL IS NOW LAW

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. Gay and lbian upl om outsi Massachetts are now ee to marry the Deval Patrick on Thursday signed a bill repealg a 1913 law that barred upl om marryg Massachetts if their unn would not be valid their own stat. Massachetts has allowed gay marriag sce 2004, but the move to repeal the law mak the state equal wh California, which recently beme the only other state to legalize gay marriage and has no rincy gay upl n marry as soon as Thursday, sce lawmakers clud a provisn to make the repeal go to effect Massachetts, there is a standard three-day wag perd after applyg for a license, but any uple n petn a urt for a waiver — somethg gay upl -state did by the hundreds when the first legal gay marriag the natn were performed May 2004.

Opponents said repealg the law would make Massachetts the "Las Vegas of gay marriage" and would ge on other stat' rights to fe marriage.

GAY MARRIAGE

A state study timat that more than 30, 000 out-of-state gay upl -- most of them om New York -- will wed Massachetts over the next three years. The form, ed sce October 2005, also asks where they currently live and plan to live once married, which has been the vehicle by which clerks have prevly been able to block out-of-state upl om obtag a marriage license is good anywhere Massachetts, so an out-of-state gay uple livg elsewhere New York or New England uld apply a borr muny and then marry anywhere the state.

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

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

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.

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

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. 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.

GAY MARRIAGE MASSACHETTS

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. Perry legalized same-sex marriage early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event.

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.

Hillary, left, and Julie Goodridge, lead platiffs the landmark Massachetts gay marriage lawsu receive their weddg rgs om their dghter, Annie, 8, as Unarian Rev. William Skford pris over their marriage ceremony Boston durg the first day of state-sanctned gay marriage the Uned Stat Monday, May 17, 2004. Legalizg gay marriage did more than rg weddg bells-- changed the landspe of acceptance and equaly for all Massachetts cizens.

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

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.

Meno is remembered as a rock star of the LGBT muny, and many nsir him pivotal the legalizatn of gay marriage:On Monday, May 17, 2004, Meno proudly rted the lead platiffs Goodridge v. 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.

Early on, AG Mra Healy worked to llect ttimonials om same-sex upl Massachetts that uld prove legalizg gay marriage would posively affect the liv of Amerins.