First same sex marriage
20 years ago, same-sex marriage in Massachusetts opened a door for LGBTQ rights nationwide
Bonauto, who has been an attorney with GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD, since , said she was a “mess” of emotions at her clients’ wedding and started crying before the ceremony even started. But the most potent moment, she recalled, came when the minister officially married the couple.
“In that packed church that day, when the minister said, ‘By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ — those are words no one had heard before — the place went wild,” Bonauto told NBC News. “I felt chills. I endure to feel chills when I listento that, because that is just such a statement of belonging in this culture. It’s not the only one, but boy, it was certainly a statement of non-belonging to be excluded from marriage.”
Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall wrote in the majority opinion that paved the way for Compton and Wilson’s wedding, that marriage is “a vital social institution” that “imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations.”
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The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States
The road to nationwide marriage equality was a elongated one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June Throughout the long fight for marriage equality, HRC was at the forefront.
Volunteer with HRC
From gathering supporters in small towns across the country to rallying in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, we gave our all to ensure every person, regardless of whom they devotion, is recognized equally under the law.
A Growing Call for Equality
Efforts to legalize same-sex marriage began to pop up across the region in the s, and with it challenges on the state and national levels. Civil unions for same-sex couples existed in many states but created a separate but equal standard. At the federal level, couples were denied access to more than 1, federal rights and responsibilities associated with the institution, as skillfully as those denied by their given state. The Defense of Marriage Proceed was signed into law in and defined marriage by the federal government as between a man and
First same-sex weddings accept place in Scotland
Tom French, from the Equality Network charity - which campaigns for the rights of Scotland's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) communities - said: "It was an honour to be invited to one of Scotland's first same-sex weddings, which really showed what this new law is all about - love, family and equality.
"This is a massive day for many couples and their families, but it is also a milestone moment for Scotland as a whole."
Tourism body VisitScotland and charity Stonewall Scotland welcomed the first same-sex weddings.
VisitScotland said the modern law would further promote Scotland as a friendly tourist destination for the LGBTI communities, and could enhance the country's already burgeoning market for marriage tourism.
Colin Macfarlane, director of Stonewall Scotland, said: "This historic change in the law is the result of a tireless campaign by many organisations, including Stonewall Scotland, parliamentarians and individuals to ensure that same-sex couples can verb full equalit
The First Countries to Legalize Gay Marriage
To some, same-sex marriage is considered immoral, while to others it is viewed as a basic, or even God-given, right. Regardless of one's stance, it cannot be argued that, for the same-sex couples living in the countries listed below, they must have considered their respective nations' passing through of legislation allowing them to be married, and those marriages to be fully recognized to be nothing short of a personal and national victory.
Argentina (July )
In July of , Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriages, attributing Argentine gay people the same marital rights as the nation's heterosexuals. A long and taxing national debate preceded the decision, with the Senate finally voting 33 to 27 in favor of the law. One of the leading proponents of same-sex marriages was the President of the country, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who constantly fought for recognition of the rights of the homosexuals, though against the will of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church bore an extremely bitter att