Massachusetts same sex marriage law

Fear and Loathing In Massachusetts: Same-Sex Marriage and Some Lessons From The History of Marriage and Divorce

Publication Title

Boston University Public Interest Law Journal

Abstract

When Massachusetts became the first and only state in the union to issue legal marriage licenses to same-sex couples last May, the state's Governor, Mitt Romney, warned that "Massachusetts should not become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage." Romney's warning makes sense only as a reference to Las Vegas' reputation for the "quickie" divorce - a heavily disparaged historical practice in which residents of other states would seek a divorce in Nevada because their home states would not grant them one, at least not on the terms or at the pace they desired. This essay retraces the history of divorce in the United States, with a particular focus on the persistent non-uniformity of divorce laws and the resulting concerns about migratory divorce. It then considers the parallel but understudied counterpart in the marriage context - the evasive marriage. The essay draws on these parallel histories o

LGBTQ couples legally marry in Massachusetts for first time in U.S.

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    The Freedom to Marry in Massachusetts

    Winning Marriage: May 17,

    Same-sex couples began marrying in Massachusetts on May 17, after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of the freedom to marry in a state legal case challenging the state’s anti-marriage laws on November 18, Massachusetts is the first U.S. declare where same-sex couples won the freedom to marry. 

    History and the Path to Victory:

    • April 11,  After defeating several attempts to pass anti-marriage legislation in Massachusetts, same-sex couples and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders file a legal case seeking the freedom to marry in Massachusetts.  The case is Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
    • May 7, Suffolk County Superior Judge Thomas E. Connolly rules against the autonomy to marry in the Goodridge case, and plaintiffs appeal the decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
    • November 18, The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that there is no rational basis under the law to

      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 powerful 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 carry on to feel chills when I hear 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.”

      “The question before u