Marriage Equality Timeline

MARRIAGE EQUALITY TIMELINE On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the De- fense of Marriage Act with a 5-4 ruling, allowing the federal government to recognize legal marriages between same-sex partners. As the LGBT community continues to make gains in equality, let's take a look at the progress in the last forty years. MAY. 1970 Jack Baker and Michael McConnell applied for a marriage license in Hennepin County, Minnesota. After being turned down, Baker and McConnell obtained a marriage license from another Minnesota county. A Methodist minister officiated in a marriage ceremony in Minneapolis and executed the license. JANUARY. 1975 Did you know? Unions between people of the same sex have existed for thousands of years? More than 30 African cultures, such as the Kikuyu and Nuer. Chinese women in Fujian would Two men from Phoenix, Arizona are granted a marriage license by their county clerk. The Arizona Supreme Court would later invalidate the license. Two months later, in Colo- rado, county clerk Clela Rorex issued six marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The state DA's office later issued an opin- bind themselves to other women in elaborate ceremonies. ion that the licenses were invalid and no new licenses were issued. 1991 Fox's comedy drama series Roc depicted the first riage on American TV. Uncle Russell marries his partner. e-sex mar- 1998 Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins, are observed performing mating rituals. They were eventually given an egg to hatch and raised Tango, a female penguin. MAY. 1993 The Hawaii State Supreme Court rules in Baehr v. Lewin that the Hawaii state statute limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is presumed to be unconstitutional unless the state can present a "compelling state interest" justifying the same-sex HAWAII SEPT. 1999 marriage ban. CALIFORNIA Governor Gray Davis from the US state of California VERMONT JULY. 2000 signs a registered partnerships bill into law that pro- vided limited rights for same-sex couples. Civil unions become legal in the US state of Vermont. 2004 2009 LOVE Couple Jeremy Hooper and Andrew Shulman are featured in the June edition of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the US when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom allowed city hall to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Massachusetts is the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Jan. 2011 Bruno and Solomon become the first same-sex married cat-couple. MAY. 2012 NOV. 2012 Barack Obama becomes the first sitting U.S. president to publicly announce support for same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage is on the November ballot for Maine, Maryland, Washington, and Minnesota. JUNE. 2013 JUNE. 2013 The Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and ruled that Proposition 8 was A further three states: Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island have pushed for same-sex marriage laws. unconstitutional. Sources: wikipedia.org, queerty.com, infoplease.com, nymag.com, ncsl.org If you're interested in same-sex marriage in the US, please refer to our Gay Marriage Infographic. SimplyBrelal ww w. si mplybrid al.com FULFILLING DREAMS