Mass. couples cheer gay marriage, 5 years later

Posted on May 16, 2009
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BOSTON – Every year, the couples who led the fight for gay marriage in Massachusetts get together privately to celebrate both their own weddings and the marriages of thousands more couples who followed them.

But this year, the celebration feels a little bit sweeter for the six couples who will gather Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts becoming the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. This year, they will also be celebrating the legalization of gay marriage in four other states.

“We’ve been very happy that it’s started to be accepted in other places,” said Maureen Brodoff, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to a Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing gay marriage.

“It’s important to us that same-sex relationships get recognition outside of our home state, and I think that that is happening slowly as people look to the Massachusetts example and see that, you know, the sky didn’t fall, that it’s strengthened families, that it’s brought joy to a lot of families,” Brodoff said. See Mass. couples cheer gay marriage, 5 years later Chicago Tribune * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual