Same-Sex Marriage: A Timeline

AN EVENT LONG AWAITED

1969 – Stonewall Riots

Riots follow a police raid on the gay bar Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, New York. The event is seen as the start of the gay rights movement in the U.S and around the world Photo Credit: AP

1970 - Jack Baker and James Michael McConnell apply for a marriage license in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The license is not only denied but subsequently appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refuses to hear the case. The following year, they obtain a license from another Minnesota county, and are married before a Methodist minister in Minneapolis Photo Credit: AP

1996 - The U.S. Defense of Marriage Act is signed into law. It means that no state (nor the Federal Government) needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if it’s considered so in another state Photo Credit: Reuters

2004 - Same-sex marriages become legal in Massachusetts 2005 –

Connecticut legalizes civil Unions

2006 - Civil unions become legal in New Jersey

2007 - The states of New Hampshire, Oregon and Washington take major strides by either legalizing civil unions (New Hampshire) or domestic partnerships.

Photo Credits: Worldatlas.com

2008 - California and Connecticut’s Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage

2009 - The states of Iowa, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire approve same-sex marriage. However, California’s Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8 in late May, which defines marriage between a man and a woman and also rules that previously officiated same-sex marriages will remain valid.

VS.

Photo Credits: Yahoo!News

2010 - Same-sex marriage law becomes effective in the District of Columbia and New Hampshire Photo Credit: CNN.com

2011 - New York passes same-sex marriage bill into law Photo Credit: AP