It all started May 18, 1970 when two University of Minnesota students wanted to get married. Richard John ‘Jack’ Baker and James Michael McConnell applied to Hennepin County District Court clerk Gerald Nelson for a marriage license. He denied the application, because the applicants are both men. Baker and McConnell sued Nelson, claiming Minnesota law on marriage made no mention of gender. The trial court was not impressed with the argument, agreeing with Nelson. The state Supreme Court agreed with the lower court. When Baker and McConnell went to the U.S. Supreme Court, the couple was rebuffed again. Baker vs. Nelson has been used in other states as precedent to block efforts at marriage equality.

In 1971, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in one of the Baker-McConnell lawsuits “that the institution of marriage as a union of man and woman uniquely involving the procreating and rearing of children within the family is as old as the book of Genesis.” It sucks that they couldn’t get married I mean if they are in love they should be able to get married. Who cares if its two guys or two girls we are all human. And should be able to marry the person we love. After that everyone was trying to avoid having gay couples try and get married.

In 1973 Maryland becomes the first state to pass a statue banning marriage between same-sex couples when it includes in its Family Law Code a line reading, “Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this State.”

November 21, 1976, in Northwest Washington, Wayne Schwandt and John Fortunato walked down the aisle side by side wearing matching embroidered tunics. Reporters wrote about what Fortunato and Schwandt called a Holy Union, which was controversial not because there was talk of legalizing gay marriage but because the two men publicly ask for –and were denied—the blessing of the Episcopal Church.

On October 10, 1987 nearly 7,000 people witnessed a wedding on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Men and women cheered and threw rice and confetti as family, friends, and community members took part in the largest mass wedding in American history… But this was no ordinary wedding. And these were not typical brides and grooms. This wedding held special significance for its participants. Beyond the ‘mass’ nature of the celebration, something else was unique. The newlyweds that fall Saturday paired off as brides and brides, grooms and grooms. ‘The Wedding,’ as it came to be known, marked the symbolic beginning of nearly 2,000 same-sex marriages.

July 1989 The New York State Court of Appeals declares that a lesbian or gay couple living together for a least ten years can be considered a family for purposes of rent control protection, the first time a state’s highest court rules that a gay couple can be called a family…

The California Bar Association urges that lesbian and gay marriage be legally recognized and in Seattle, San Francisco and other cities, ‘partners’ regulations extending certain protections and rights to unmarried couples, straight and gay, are adopted.

In 1992 same-sex employees begin to receive domestic partner benefits. Domestic partners of employees of Levi Strauss & Co. are granted full medical benefits. The province of Ontario, Canada, extends spousal benefits to same sex partners of government workers. William Weld, governor of Massachusetts signs an executive order granting lesbian and gay state workers the same bereavement and family leave rights as heterosexual workers.

September 21, 1996 President Clinton signs Defense of Marriage Act into law. It defines marriage as ‘a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife’ and defines a spouse as ‘a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.’ That definition affects 1,049 laws determining eligibility for federal benefits, rights or privileges.

March 20, 2000 US rabbis approve gay partnership Hawaii becomes the first state to mandate statewide domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples. Called ‘Reciprocal Beneficiaries,’ these benefits cover less than 60 items (the law seems to be ambiguous on the exact number) and are offered only through certain businesses, some of which complained that the state has no business dictating employee policies. The Hawaii attorney general declared that she would not enforce the requirement for private employers to offer benefits.

April 1 2001 Netherlands becomes World’s first country to legalize same-sex marriage. A Dutch law now allows same sex marriages, and today four couples became the world’s first homosexuals to legally wed… Holland, long among the gay rights vanguard, enacted a bill last year converting the countries registered same-sex partnerships into full-fledged marriages. Same-sex couples now have the same legal status as heterosexuals. They can divorce legally, claim pensions and other benefits, and adopt Dutch children. The couples are barred from adopting children overseas because of potential objections from countries that do not accept gay marriages. Under the new legislation, all references to gender in laws governing matrimony and adoption will be deleted in favor of the neutral-gender term, partner.

May 17, 2004 the United States first legal gay marriage fully authorized by law took place at the Cambridge City Hall when Tanya McCloskey and Marcia Kadish exchanged vows.

February 23, 2005 The Pope says “Homosexual marriages are part of ‘a new ideology of evil’ that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in his newly published book…. In one section about the role of lawmakers, the Pope takes another swipe at gay marriages when he refers to ‘pressures’ on the European Parliament to allow them. ‘It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man,’ he writes.

On May 9, 2012 President Obama announced that he believes same-sex couples should be granted the right to marry, becoming the first U.S. president in history to fully embrace that level of civil rights for gays.

Obama’s announcement gave an immediate jolt to the decades-long movement for gay equality at a moment when a growing number of states are moving to ban -or legalize- same-sex unions and as polls show a majority of Americans support marriage rights. Go Obama! I think it is awesome that one of our presidents finally support gay marriage. Knowing that he supports same-sex relationships and gay marriage, this might sound weird but it made me feel better.

Feb. 11, 2013 – US Military Extends Some Marriage Benefits to Same-Sex Partners “The Pentagon announced Monday that it would extend 20 new benefits to same-sex military couples, including access to base facilities and groups as well as joint assignments, the latest move by the Obama administration to heed calls from gay and lesbians pressing for change. Activists hailed the move as a meaningful step toward full equality, which they say will remain elusive unless a 1996 federal law the Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as a heterosexual union is repealed. The new benefits do not include health care coverage for same-sex spouses or on-base housing privileges.