STATUS: Marriage

WINNING MARRIAGE: On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that there is no rational basis under the law to deny a marriage license to same-sex couples. On May 17, 2004, marriage licenses began to be issued to same-sex couples in Massachusetts.

In June 2007, the Massachusetts legislature defeated a discriminatory, anti-gay, anti-marriage Constitutional amendment that had been proposed. The final 151 to 45 vote was a strong legislative victory for the freedom to marry. Finally, in July 2008, the Massachusetts legislature, along with a signature from Gov. Deval Patrick, signed a law that upholds the freedom to marry for same-sex couples from outside of Massachusetts to get married in the state. Both houses of the state legislature overwhelmingly voted in favor of the law, which repealed a discriminatory law from 1913 that had blocked such marriages. In a statement, Patrick said: "The 1913 law is outdated and discriminatory; repealing it is the right thing to do."

GROUPS THAT WORKED ON MARRIAGE: 

• MassEquality is a coalition of local and national organizations defending equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in Massachusetts.
• Freedom to Marry is the campaign to win marriage for same-sex couples nationwide. 
• Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.
• Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England's leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression.

POLLING DATA: Voters in Massachusetts are very happy with the fact that their state recognizes the freedom to marry. 58% of residents said they think marriage between same-sex couples should be legal, and only 31% say it should be illegal. Only 12% of respondents said they think there should be no legal recognition of same-sex relationships at all. (Public Policy Polling, March 2012)  

NUMBER OF SAME-SEX COUPLES: According to The Williams Institute's analysis of the 2010 U.S. Census, 20,256 same-sex couples are living in Massachusetts, representing 8.0 same-sex couples per 1,000 households.