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Apr 1, 20212 min read
April 1, 2001: Netherlands legalizes same-sex marriage
ON THIS DAY IN 2001.... The Netherlands became the first country on earth to permit same-sex couples to marry on equal terms to same-sex...
Mar 26, 20212 min read
March 26, 2013: Supreme Court hears Prop 8 case
ON THIS DAY IN 2013… The U.S. Supreme Court heard a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, the first-ever case related to same-sex...
Mar 25, 20212 min read
March 25, 2010: Gay-rights operatives revise national marriage strategy
ON THIS DAY IN 2010… Officials from the nation’s leading gay-rights organizations met outside Boston to revise and update the movement’s...
Mar 15, 20212 min read
March 15, 2013: Rob Portman endorses same-sex marriage
ON THIS DAY IN 2013… Ohio Senator Rob Portman became the country’s first prominent elected Republican to endorse marriage rights for...
Mar 7, 20213 min read
March 7, 2000: California voters pass gay-marriage ban
ON THIS DAY IN 2000… California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 22, becoming the third state to ban same-sex marriage by a...
Mar 3, 20212 min read
March 3, 2009: Mary Bonauto files DOMA suit
ON THIS DAY IN 2009... New England attorney Mary Bonauto filed the first lawsuit in which legally married couples challenged the Defense...
Feb 27, 20213 min read
February 27, 1998: Alaska court rules for marriage plaintiffs
ON THIS DAY IN 1998... An Alaska superior court ruled that excluding gays from marriage denies them a fundamental right, ordering a trial...
Feb 25, 20213 min read
February 25, 2014: Marriage goes on trial in Detroit
ON THIS DAY IN 2014… Judge Bernard Friedman gaveled in a trial in his federal courtroom over same-sex marriage rights, setting up a...
Feb 24, 20212 min read
February 24, 2004: George W. Bush endorses Federal Marriage Amendment
ON THIS DAY IN 2004… President George W. Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the United States. The...
Feb 21, 20213 min read
February 21, 2013: Barack Obama plots Supreme Court strategy
ON THIS DAY IN 2013… President Barack Obama and his top legal advisers set a strategy for the administration in two marriage-related...
Feb 13, 20212 min read
February 13, 1994: Mormons Enter Marriage Debate
ON THIS DAY IN 1994... The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints urged members to fight any effort to extend "official approval or...
Feb 12, 20212 min read
February 12, 2004: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defies state law with marriage order
ON THIS DAY IN 2004... San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began marrying gay and lesbian couples at City Hall in defiance of state law. On...
Feb 10, 20212 min read
February 10, 1996: Six presidential candidates sign anti-gay-marriage pledge
ON THIS DAY IN 1996... Six Republican presidential candidates signed a pledge to not "legitimize homosexual relationships” in the first...
Feb 7, 20212 min read
February 7, 2012: Federal court upholds Prop 8 ruling
ON THIS DAY IN 2012... A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld a circuit court’s ruling that a gay-marriage ban approved by...
Feb 3, 20212 min read
February 3, 2004: Massachusetts court dismisses civil-union compromise
On November 17, 2003, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that excluding same-sex couples from “civil marriage” violated...
Dec 22, 20202 min read
December 22, 2010: Obama declares his views on marriage “constantly evolving”
ON THIS DAY IN 2010... At a year-end press conference held shortly after Congress passed a law allowing gays to serve openly in military,...
Dec 21, 20202 min read
December 20, 2013: Utah’s marriage law struck down by federal judge
ON THIS DAY IN 2013… A federal district court in Utah ruled that the state’s 2004 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was...
Dec 17, 20201 min read
December 17, 1990: Hawaii same-sex couples demand marriage licenses
ON THIS DAY IN 1990... Honolulu gay-rights activist Bill Woods led three same-sex couples to demand marriage licenses from the Hawaii...
Sep 29, 20202 min read
September 29, 2005: Schwarzenegger vetoes California gay-marriage bill
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, the first ever passed by American legislators.
Sep 21, 20202 min read
September 21, 1996: Bill Clinton signs Defense of Marriage Act
ON THIS DAY IN 1996...
President Bill Clinton made the Defense of Marriage Act law...
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