Ten years ago this week, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage. Attorney Mary Bonto, one of the key drivers of the change, is a quiet, unassumg mother of two om Mae.
Contents:
- TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 YEARS SCE MASSACHETTS BEME FIRST STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
- LAWYER REFLECTS ON NATN'S FIRST GAY MARRIAG: 'THE CAGE HAD BEEN LIFTED'
- ONE OF N.L.'S FIRST MARRIED GAY UPL LOOK BACK WH PRI
TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 YEARS SCE MASSACHETTS BEME FIRST STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
SOURCE: “WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS: AMERICA, EQUALITY, AND GAY PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO MARRY, ” BY EVAN WOLFSON (2004).
Legalizg gay marriage did more than rg weddg bells-- changed the landspe of acceptance and equaly for all Massachetts cizens. 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.
LAWYER REFLECTS ON NATN'S FIRST GAY MARRIAG: 'THE CAGE HAD BEEN LIFTED'
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. Supreme Court revved up to take on the nstutnaly of gay marriage. om same-sex upl Massachetts that uld prove legalizg gay marriage would posively affect the liv of Amerins.
Before gay marriage beme legal natnally, many bs stepped up to ensure protectns for the LGBT muny.
Supreme Court pass gay marriage on June 26, 2015! Legal scholar Kenji Yosho spoke to WGBH News' Morng Edn on the role that Massachetts played the Supreme Court's cisn to legalize gay marriage:When Massachetts had same sex marriage…. It had been six months sce her arguments had persuad Massachetts' hight urt to allow the natn's first legal gay marriag, but opponents were still tryg to stop the weddgs before they started.
ONE OF N.L.'S FIRST MARRIED GAY UPL LOOK BACK WH PRI
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. Almost immediately after she began workg 1990 for the gay advocy group GLAD (Gay and Lbian Advot and Defenrs) Boston, clients started askg Bonto to sue for gay marriage.
Bonto wh Edward Balmelli and Michael Han, platiffs the landmark se that legalized gay marriage Massachetts. ' You uldn't e 'gay people' and 'civil rights' the same sentence. " In that ntext, Bonto says, gay marriage was a pipe dream.
By the late 1990s, after seeg an almost-w for gay marriage Hawaii and gettg her own almost-w Vermont (that end civil unns stead of marriage), Bonto was ready to go for Massachetts.