Nov 21, 2003   | COMMENTS     

1971

• In the Minnesota case of Baker vs. Nelson, the court rejects a suit brought by a gay couple arguing that because the Minnesota marriage statute didn’t have sex-specific language, the legislature meant to allow gays to marry.

1973

• In Jones vs. Hallahan, a lesbian couple in Kentucky fails in their attempt to argue that not allowing them to marry deprived them of constitutional rights.

1974

• In Washington state, a court rules in Singer vs. Hara that not allowing a gay male couple to marry didn’t violate the state’s Equal Rights Amendment, which the court said was meant to address sexism.

1975

• A gay couple in Colorado unsuccessfully argues in Adams vs. Howerton that their relationship should be considered a marriage so that one partner, who was from Australia, could immigrate to the U.S.
• In Thorton vs. Timmers, a lesbian couple in Ohio loses their argument for a marriage license there.

1984

• A court in Pennsylvania rules in De Santo vs. Barnsley that a lesbian relationship does not constitute a common law marriage, meaning one partner cannot sue for divorce.
• Berkeley, Calif., becomes the first city in the country to approve health care and bereavement leave benefits for gay “domestic partners” of city employees.

1987

• Second national March on Washington for Lesbian & Gay Rights includes a mass wedding in front of the Internal Revenue Service to protest unequal marriage rights, including lack of recognition for gay couples in federal tax laws.

1989

• Denmark becomes the first country to offer “registered partnerships” for gay couples.

1991

• In Baehr vs. Lewin (later known as Baehr vs. Miike and Baehr vs. Anderson), lead plaintiff Nina Baehr and other gay couples sue for the right to marry in Hawaii.

1993

• Third national March on Washington again includes gay marriage protest at the IRS.
• The Hawaii Supreme Court rules in the Baehr case that denying gay couples’ marriage licenses constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex and may violate state constitutional guarantees to equal protection. The Hawaii high court remands the case to a lower court for trial on whether the state has “compelling” reasons for discriminating against gay couples in marriage.

1995

• In Dean vs. District of Columbia, the D.C. Superior Court refuses to order a marriage license for Craig Dean and his partner, who argued for the right to marry based on grounds of equal protection under the law. The D.C. Court of Appeals, the district’s highest court, upholds the decision.

1996

• President Bill Clinton signs the federal Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage under federal law as the union between one man and one woman. The law bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and purports to allow states to ignore gay marriages performed in other states. Activists question its constitutionality.
• In the Hawaii case, trial Judge Kevin Chang finds that the state has not shown a single compelling reason for not letting gays marry; the case heads back to state Supreme Court.

1997

• In Vermont, three gay couples — including lead plaintiff Stan Baker and his partner, Peter Harrigan — file a lawsuit in state court after being denied marriage licenses by their town clerks. The case is known as Baker vs. State.
• With a gay marriage lawsuit still pending on appeal, Hawaii enacts Reciprocal Beneficiaries Law, at the time the broadest package of rights afforded to gay couples anywhere in the country.

1998

• Alaska residents Jay Brause and Gene Dugan sue to challenge a 1996 state law banning recognition of same-sex marriage. In May, an Alaska trial court rules in Brause vs. Bureau of Vital Statistics that marriage is a fundamental right that state can’t prevent without compelling reason.
• Alaska voters amend the state constitution to limit marriage to union between one man and one woman, ending gay couples’ lawsuit in Brause vs. Bureau of Vital Statistics.
• Before the Hawaii Supreme Court can rule on the gay marriage case there, Hawaii voters approve an amendment to the state constitution giving the state legislature “the power to reserve marriage to a man and a woman.”

Saundra Heath and trong>Alicia Tobey are among seven gay couples suing for the right to marry in New Jersey. A lower court ruled against ...

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