By Jeff Gilbride/Daily News staff
GateHouse News Service
Posted May 17, 2009 @ 11:34 PM
WALTHAM — For several local gay couples, the five-year anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts has been a reassuringly quiet milestone.
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AMHERST, Mass. — A study says the over 12,000 same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts since 2004 have pumped over $111 million into the state’s economy.
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5th anniversary of Mass. gay marriage
(NECN: Boston, Mass.) - Sunday marked five years of marriage equality in Massachusetts.
Dozens of same sex couples surrounded by their children, celebrated the anniversary outside the Eliot School in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston.
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BOSTON – Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, along with gay and lesbian couples and their families, today marked the 5th anniversary of the day when Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples on May 17, 2004.
This Sunday, May 17, is the five year anniversary of the first gay marriage license issued in Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to allow same sex partners to wed. Since then, over 10,000 gay and lesbian couples have taken marriage vows. (The first gay couple married in Massachusetts - Susan Shepard and Marcia Hams - will celebrate their five year anniversary on Sunday too.) Although Massachusetts has a reputation for liberalism, the path to gay marriage was a tough one, which ended in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Read the rest of this post »
Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd cut the cake at a gathering celebrating the fifth anniversary of Massachusetts becoming the first state in the nation to issue civil marriage licenses to same sex couples. A recent survey of 600 mass voters conducted by Lake Research Partners shows that 74% of voters believe that marriage equality is good for society. 62% of residents in the survey are opposed to amending the state Constitution to take away civil marriage rights — that’s a 10% increase since 2005.
Five years after the first marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples in Massachusetts, a large majority of the state’s voters believe that marriage equality has been good for the state. A recent statewide poll of voters in Massachusetts found that support for marriage equality has increased 10 percentage points since 2005. Moreover, 70 percent of voters believe that married gay and lesbian couples in Massachusetts should have equal access to protections and benefits provided to other married couples by the federal government, such as Social Security survivor benefits.
“Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of gay marriages in the Bay State and the advocacy group MassEquality is celebrating the anniversary early releasing a poll that suggests acceptance of gay spouses has climbed ten percent during that time.”
May 12, 2009 5:21 pm US/Eastern - Five years can go by fast, especially if you spent the previous 27 years trying to get married. “We’ve had a great 32 years, and the last five have been especially great since marriage,” said Marsha Hams, who, along with her partner, Susan Shepard, were the first gay couple to legally wed in Massachusetts.
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MassEquality is out with results from a new statewide poll showing public support for marriage equality has increased. WBZ Radio interviews Doug Hattaway on the poll.
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