Massachusetts same sex marriage decision
Same-Sex Marriage in Massachusetts
Will Massachusetts Respect my Marriage?
Massachusetts will respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples regardless of where the marriage was completed. All states will now respect the marriage of a same-sex couple married in Massachusetts.
Additionally, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that civil unions would be treated as a marriage in Massachusetts, and registered domestic partnerships would be treated as a marriage in Massachusetts with rights and obligations functionally identical to marriage. These unions will be accorded the identical respect as marriages by Massachusetts courts.
After Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex spouses should be able to dissolve their marriages on the same terms as different-sex spouses. For instance, Massachusetts explicitly applies its divorce statutes to same-sex couples. Specifically, using the divorce statutes for “husband” and “wife” to a same-sex couple. However, spouses should note that when Massachusetts courts divide marital property and award alimony, one of the factors a judge considers is th
Reflecting on Massachusetts' historic gay rights ruling, 15 years later: ANALYSIS
The moment felt historic. But it also felt precarious, as if the history being made could be unmade at any moment.
The Boston Globe had assigned me, then a junior political reporter, to man the steps of City Hall in Cambridge, Mass., as the clock struck midnight and the calendar flipped to May 17,
Same-sex marriage became legal at that moment, in accordance with a then-controversial Supreme Judicial Court ruling that no one was quite sure would stand.
A first crush of 41 couples lined up in the middle of the night to be the first gays and lesbians to be legally married in the United States, with some of the plaintiffs in the court case getting front-of-the-line treatment.
The scene was jubilant. A small group of protesters was drowned out by an exuberant crowd of gay activists and curious locals who had gathered under the brightly lit ancient bell tower in Central Square to witness history.
With 15 years’ remove from that moment, it’s difficult to remember how uncertain it all felt.
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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 continue 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 belief 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