• Civil marriage equality in effect at the state level since 2004. (Same-sex couples may legally marry.)

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• In 1989, passing legislation first proposed in 1973, Massachusetts prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in credit, public and private employment, union practices, housing, and public accommodation.
• In 1991, the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights launched a campaign on behalf of civil marriage rights for same-sex couples in Massachusetts.
• In May 2004, marriage equality was legalized as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry.
• MA waa the first state in the U.S. to legalize marriage equality.
• MA was the 6^th jurisdiction in the world to legalize marriage equality.