Happy Anniversary, Gay Marriage

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-18 05:08:00 UTC
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Marriage Equality MAOh how the years go by, as Vanessa Williams might say.

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the landmark Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which is more popularly known as the case that made Massachusetts the first state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage.  Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts at the time, warned that the Bay State was about to become "the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage," and vowed to overturn gay marriage.

Instead, five years later, Massachusetts has become solidly behind gay marriage. The legislature has consistently blocked any measure that would place gay marriage on a statewide ballot (do you hear that, California State Supreme Court?), and earlier this year, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation that allowed Massachusetts to begin marrying out-of-state gay and lesbian couples.

This is an exciting time for those who champion marriage equality.  Sure, there's Proposition 8, Florida's Amendment 2, and Arizona's Proposition 102, which seemed to spell doom for gay marriage.  But it's foolish to think that the anti-gay marriage crowd has won this debate.  One week ago, Connecticut recognized its first gay marriages. This past weekend, tens of thousands of LGBT rights supporters gathered at city halls around the country to stand up for marriage equality. Today we celebrate five years of marriage equality in Massachusetts. And in the coming months, we're likely to see major progress made in the area of marriage equality in states as diverse as New Jersey, Maine, New York, and possibly even Iowa.  (And there's always the hope that the California Supreme Court will repeal Proposition 8.)

So despite the national anger over Election 2008 and gay rights, today is really a day to celebrate the hard-fought victories on behalf of marriage equality.  Happy anniversary, gay marriage.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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