Ten years ago, Massachusetts became the first state to recognize the legality of same sex marriages. And since that fateful November 18, back in 2003, 14 states, as well as the District of Columbia and eight Native American tribal regions, have followed suit. On December 2 of this year, Hawaii will become the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriages and Illinois will follow suit, where the law will come into effect in June of 2014.
The landmark case was Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in which seven same-sex couples sued the Massachusetts Department of Health for being denied marriage licenses. Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly subsequently ruled in the Department’s favor, noting that it was a matter of legislation as opposed to one of the judicial variety.
The coalition, under the leadership and conviction of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders’ (GLAD) Mary Bonauto, promptly appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court.
According to Bay Windows, the LGBTQ publication spanning New England, Attorney General Tom Reilly argued against the appeal, citing not only potential policy concerns, but, also, the fact that ” same-sex couples cannot procreate on their own and therefore cannot accomplish the ‘main object’ … of marriage as historically understood.”
On this day a decade ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 in favor of the plaintiffs, with Chief Justice Margaret Marshall penning the 50-page opinion.
She noted duly that “Many people hold deep-seated religious, moral, and ethical convictions that marriage should be limited to the union of one man and one woman. Many hold equally strong religious, moral, and ethical convictions that same-sex couples are entitled to be married… Neither view answers the question before us.”
She also cited the firm stance of the Massachusetts Constitution in that “It forbids the creation of second-class citizens” and therefore the Commonwealth of Massachusetts “has failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples.” You can read the entire decision below.
BostInno reached out directly to Chief Justice Marshall, who noted that she would be unavailable to discuss the case or its legacy at this time.
With the ruling, many states have made strides in equal rights and marriage equality for the LGBTQ community. On a federal level, though, the progress is significantly slower, though, there is progress. In June 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 5-4 ruling, concluded that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. That specific section of DOMA prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, and it was deemed unconstitutional. The rest of DOMA, though, bars same-sex couples from receiving the same marital benefits of a “traditional” married couple.
