And we all know what happened since then. Now we sit and wait, 365 days after the State Supreme Court justices ruled unconstitutional a law that limited marriage to one man and one woman, for them to decide whether the voter-approved Proposition 8 was also legal — a decision they must hand down by June 3. But there's even more significance built into this week in May:
We're also celebrating! On Sunday we'll mark the fifth birthday of the first time same-sex marriage became legal in the U.S., when the Massachusetts Supreme Court's November 2003 opinion took effect on May 17, 2004. Since then, we've seen four more states — Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire — follow suit.
But take the good with the bad: Also in those five years, 26 states have banned the practice altogether.
NOTE: Twitter is alive with users posting this story from the Los Angeles Times, with the headline, "California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban" and dated May 16. But that's May 16 of 2008. The LAT updated the headline with "ARCHIVE STORY" so nobody starts a premature celebration.
UDPATE: Turns out the LAT is responsible for punking everyone. The newspaper marked that story as "new" and tossed it out on its Twitter feed, causing followers to think it was a brand new story.
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And um,how long since uber-douche Obama gave his famous and often quoted by right-wing bigots speech " I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman because God is in the mix". DJ Obama remixed my rights while many of the gays danced and gyrated in unison proclaiming Obamabigot the savior of "teh gays".
His words were then used on the Yes on 8 people in their robocalls days before the election, because Obama is an antigay bigot. And unlike Bush, Obama is a Consitutional Law Scholar (LOL) who doesn't seem to comprehend the idea that "separate but equal is NOT EQUAL".
Just another sweet talkin' douchebag politician. I am sick of the abusive relationship the LGBT Community is in with Obama, giving him alibis and excuses everytime he pulls a Chris Brown on us. I like Rhianna as much as the next gay, but even she got tired of the abuse and walked away from the abuser.
Enough!
@Tony: ditto here, baby!
I have no idea what will happen with the case, but it is interesting that the court is taking so long to rule since everyone claimed that the law was a slamdunk in favor of the Pro-Prop 8 position and the justices were so obviously favoring the Pro-Prop 8 crowd. Maybe things are not as certain as the "experts" were saying?
@The Gay Numbers: Of course, not. I basically agree with NCLR's Kate Kendell on the law suit. The law's always been on our side, fundamental rights are fundamental rights. It was just the politics that was getting in the way. I just hope the CA Supremes look past the immediate politics and focus on the real issue of the legality of this discrimination.
And the LA-LA Times continues its long, slow decent into irrelevance. Thanks Sam.
Right on Tony! Time for El Mesías to shit or get off the pot.
What about Maine? Are you not counting Maine because the law hasn't gone into effect yet?
Or didja just forget?
Last week I was naming the states with same sex marriage and I kept coming up one short. Which one couldn't I remember? Yes. Maine.