20 Years of Same-Sex Marriage: A Look Back at Goodridge v. Department of Public Health
June is Pride Month
Twenty years ago (on May 17, 2004 to be exact), wedding bells rang out across the state of Massachusetts for same-sex couples. Just four days earlier, US District Court Judge Joseph Tauro denied a request for an injunction delaying implementation of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts’ decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 440 Mass. 309 (2003).
Goodridge was filed by GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders) on November 18, 2003 on behalf of seven couples who wanted marriage licenses in order to gain legal recognition and protection of their marriage, but had been denied as same-sex couples. The Department of Public Health defended their position on the grounds that the principal purpose of marriage is procreation, that heterosexual couples provide the best environment for raising children, and that state and private resources are conserved by barring same-sex marriage.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in a 4–3 opinion that the Department had “failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples.” The ruling was the first of its kind issued in the United States by a final appellate court.
With this decision and the federal court’s ruling, Massachusetts officially became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Some of the couples who legally wed on the 17th were plaintiffs in the case that would make their special day possible. Mary L. Bonauto, GLAD Senior Director of Civil Rights and Legal Strategies, and lead counsel in the case, said the decision “forever changed the standards for how LGBTQ+ people must be treated under law and raised the bar for equality across the country. This momentous victory would not have happened without the courage, commitment, and perseverance of the fourteen Goodridge plaintiffs.”
The repercussions of Goodridge were swift. Within less than a year of the decision 11 states voted to place a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In 2006 the Washington State Supreme Court upheld its own state ban on same-sex marriage in a 5–4 decision, agreeing with the same arguments made by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (see Andersen v. King County, 158 Wn.2d 1 (2006)). The next three years following Andersen ushered in some major changes, including legislative action to create domestic partnerships and allow for benefits that only straight couples had enjoyed, such as hospital visits.
In 2012 the dream of marriage equality for same-sex couples in Washington State became a reality when voters passed Referendum 74. The referendum allowed same-sex couples to marry and preserved domestic partnerships only for seniors. It also provided for the rights of religious organizations and clergy to refuse to recognize, perform, or provide accommodations for same-sex marriages. Referendum 74 passed with 53.7% of voters approving the measure.
On December 9, 2012, nine years and 3,000 miles apart from the court that decided Goodridge, wedding bells rang for same-sex couples in Washington. Then Superior Court Judge and now State Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu performed the ceremonies of many of Washington’s first same-sex marriages, beginning at midnight on the day that the new law took effect.
Washington State was one of 36 states and Washington, D.C. to follow Massachusetts in legalizing same-sex marriage. In 2015 the US Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015), that the 14th Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between a same-sex couple legally licensed and performed in another state, making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
To learn more about the history of same-sex marriage across the country, LGBTQI+ legal information, and Pride Month, please check out the following online resources and books from the law library collection:
Visit our research room to check out HeinOnline’s LGBTQ+ Rights database
Law Library of Congress’ In Custodia Legis blog post on LGBTQI+ resources
Rand Study: Twenty Years of Legal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in the United States (2024)
Legacy Washington’s Love, Equally online exhibit
Legacy Washington’s Love, Equally: The Journey to Marriage Equity book
Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws by William N. Eskridge Jr. and Christopher R. Riano
What Obergefell v. Hodges Should Have Said: The Nation’s Top Legal Experts Rewrite America’s Same-Sex Decision by Jack M. Balkin, et al.
Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell
Love Unites Us: Winning the Freedom to Marry in America edited by Kevin M. Carthcart and Leslie J. Gabel-Brett (Staff Book Review) (LE)
