A Decade of Equality: Remembering the First Same-Sex Marriages in the U.S.

Saturday marks 10 years since same-sex marriage was first legalized in the United StatesMassachusetts was the first state to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, on May 17, 2004

Iowa, Maine and Vermont followed in 2009, and more since, though the history of same-sex marriage in the U.S. is storied with struggles and legislative roadblocks

The first notable state case for marriage equality was Baker v. Nelson. In 1971, couple Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell applied for a Minneapolis marriage license with court clerk Gerald R. Nelson. They were denied, because state law required applicants to be of the opposite sex. The couple appealed to the state Supreme Court, but got denied again, on the grounds that gay marriage was deemed unconstitutional at the time Read more...