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Same-sex marriage,also known as gay marriage,is the marriage of two people of the same sex. There are records of same-sex marriage dating back to the first century. In the modern era,marriage equality for same-sex couples was first legally acknowledged in the Netherlands on 1 April 2001,after royal assent was given by Queen Beatrix.
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It defines marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman,and allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. All of the act's provisions,except those relating to its short title,were ruled unconstitutional or left effectively unenforceable by Supreme Court decisions in the cases of United States v. Windsor (2013) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015),which means the law itself has been practically overturned.
A domestic partnership is a legal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life,but are not married. People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee right of survivorship,hospital visitation,and others.
Same-sex marriage in Canada was progressively introduced in several provinces by court decisions beginning in 2003 before being legally recognized nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act on July 20,2005. On June 10,2003,the Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a decision immediately legalizing same-sex marriage in Ontario,thereby becoming the first province where it was legal. The introduction of a federal gender-neutral marriage definition made Canada the fourth country in the world,and the first country outside Europe,to legally recognize same-sex marriage throughout its borders. Before the federal recognition of same-sex marriage,court decisions had already introduced it in eight out of ten provinces in the country and one of three territories,whose residents collectively made up about 90 percent of Canada's population. More than 3,000 same-sex couples had already married in those areas before the Civil Marriage Act was passed. Most legal benefits commonly associated with marriage had been extended to cohabiting same-sex couples since 1999.
The availability of legally recognized same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015 through various court rulings,state legislation,and direct popular votes. States each have separate marriage laws,which must adhere to rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States that recognize marriage as a fundamental right guaranteed by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,as first established in the 1967 landmark civil rights case of Loving v. Virginia.
Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health,798 N.E.2d 941,is a landmark Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case in which the Court held that the Massachusetts Constitution requires the state to legally recognize same-sex marriage. The November 18,2003,decision was the first by a U.S. state's highest court to find that same-sex couples had the right to marry. Despite numerous attempts to delay the ruling,and to reverse it,the first marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples on May 17,2004,and the ruling has been in full effect since that date.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2004.
Jason West is an American politician who served as mayor of the village of New Paltz,New York from January 1,2003 to May 31,2007,and again from June 1,2011 to May 31,2015.
Same-sex marriage in Massachusetts has been legally recognized since May 17,2004,as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts Constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts became the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first U.S. state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in the U.S. state of New York since July 24,2011 under the Marriage Equality Act. The Act does not have a residency restriction,as some similar laws in other states do. It allows religious organizations to decline to officiate at same-sex wedding ceremonies.
Rebecca Rotzler was elected deputy mayor and a trustee of New Paltz,New York,on May 6,2003;one of the first Green Party candidates elected in New York. In that position she assisted mayor Jason West in performing numerous same-sex marriages in New York,and worked to increase the use of solar and wind power in that community Rotzler did not seek reelection in 2007,the year Jason West was defeated by Democrat Terry Dungan.
The San Francisco 2004 same-sex weddings took place between February 12 and March 11,2004,after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom directed the city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and a number of interest groups sued to end the practice. About 4,000 such licenses were issued before the California Supreme Court ordered a halt to the practice on March 11. On August 12,2004,the California Supreme Court voided all of the licenses that had been issued in February and March.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in the U.S. state of Florida since January 6,2015,as a result of Brenner v. Scott,the lead case on the issue. In this case,a U.S. district court ruled the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional on August 21,2014. The order was stayed temporarily;state attempts at extending the stay failed,with the U.S. Supreme Court denying further extension on December 19,2014.
Same-sex marriage became legally recognized statewide in the U.S. state of New Mexico through a ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court on December 19,2013,requiring all county clerks to issue marriage licenses to qualified couples seeking marriage regardless of gender. Until then,same-sex couples could only obtain marriage licenses in certain counties of the state. Eight of the 33 counties,covering 58% of the state's population,had begun issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in August and September 2013. New Mexico's marriage statute is not specific as to gender. It is the only state lacking a state statute or constitutional provision explicitly addressing same-sex marriage. Lacking a state law or judicial ruling concerning same-sex marriage prior to December 19,2013,policy for the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples was determined at the county level at the discretion of local issuing authorities i.e.,some counties recognized same-sex marriage and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples,while others did not. Despite the ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court allowing same-sex marriages in the state,some of New Mexico's Native American tribes continue to prohibit same-sex marriages within their jurisdictions and do not recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Jay Blotcher is an American activist,journalist,and editor. He was active in the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power in its early years,serving as chair of the media committee,and was a founding member of Queer Nation.
Billiam van Roestenberg is an American political activist,former model,philanthropist,and organic farmer. Van Roestenberg was a member of the first same-sex couple to be married in New York State,one of many weddings conducted February 2004 in New Paltz,New York. He ran unsuccessfully for Ulster County Legislature in 2005 on the Democratic ticket. He is a community farm activist,maintaining one of the many organic apple orchards in New York State,which was nominated for the "Top Ten Apple Picking Farms in America".
New Paltz is a village in Ulster County located in the U.S. state of New York. It is approximately 80 miles (130 km) north of New York City and 70 miles (110 km) south of Albany. The population was 7,324 at the 2020 census.
This article contains a timeline of significant events regarding same-sex marriage in the United States. On June 26,2015,the landmark US Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges effectively ended restrictions on same-sex marriage in the United States.
The history of same-sex marriage in the United States dates from the early 1970s,when the first lawsuits seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention though they proved unsuccessful. However marriage wasn't a request for lgbtq movement until the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington (1987). The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Baehr v. Miike that suggested the possibility that the state's prohibition might be unconstitutional. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples,notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defense of Marriage Act.
References
- ↑ Crampton, Thomas; Michelle York (2004-03-02). "Hoping Courts Will Address Same-Sex Marriage, Ithaca Begins Accepting Licenses". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
