Summary: 1942-1989
So what we’ve seen, starting in 1942 with Skinner v. Oklahoma, is the recognition of legal marriage as a fundamental, human, civil right.
Interracial couples are entitled to this right. Perez v. Sharp in California
starts the discussion in 1948 and it doesn’t end until 1967 with
Loving v. Virginia.
We see that the fundamental right belongs to deadbeat dads in 1978’s
Zablocki case
and also to criminals serving time in prison with 1987’s Turner v. Safley.
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| Baker/McConnell marriage license |
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| Singer and Barwick magazine article, 1971 |
And we see several tries at finding out whether it belongs to committed same-sex couples as well.
Between 1970 and 1978 there’s a lot of activity, including granting of the first license, in Minnesota, and Washington’s Singer case, both in 1971.
Yet there’s no progress for same-sex couples in either the courts or the legislatures and, since the issue is too controversial for mass media coverage, the whole episode is largely unknown and ultimately forgotten, even by the gay community.
But the precedents are there.
Timeline key: progress (green),
no progress (red),
pending court cases (purple),
events that are neutral, not directly related, or with both positive and negative effects (black)
updated 17 Aug 2008