Same-Gender Couples Legally Marry in Massachusetts

Florida, National & International News Articles

The Massachusetts ruling touched off a frenzy of gay marriages across the US earlier this year, emboldening officials in San Francisco, upstate New York and Portland, Oregon, to issue marriage licences as acts of civil disobedience. Even though courts ordered a halt to the wedding march, opponents pushed for a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, which President George W. Bush has endorsed.

The ruling also galvanised opponents of gay marriage in Massachusetts, prompting lawmakers in this heavily Democratic, Roman Catholic state to adopt a state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage but legalise Vermont-style civil unions. The earliest it could wind up on the ballot is 2006 - possibly casting a shadow on the legality of thousands of gay marriages that could take place in the intervening years. Massachusetts joins the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada's three most populous provinces as the only places worldwide where gays can marry, though the rest of Canada is expected to follow soon.

Tampa, Florida

*Massachusetts Ushers in Gay Marriage; Couples Apply for Nation's First Licenses. - WFTS Action News

http://www.wfts.com/stories/2004/05/040517gay.shtml
WFTS-ABC Action News Video Report:

http://www.wfts.com/video/news/2004/05/0517mass.html

*Marriage-License Applications Given to Same-Sex Couples in Massachusetts. - WTSP Tampa Bays 10

http://www.wtsp.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=8247

WTSP Tampa Bays 10 News Video Report:

http://www.wtsp.com/video/player.aspx?aid=10757&sid=8247

*Same-Sex Couples Marry in Massachusetts. - Associated Press/TBO.Com

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GAY_MARRIAGE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

Audio Report

http://hosted.ap.org/audio/20040517120451-260.ra