on this day 2/2

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 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.