A Decade of Equality: Remembering the First Same-Sex Marriages in the U.S.

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Patrick Plain, left, and Seong Man Hong celebrate after getting married in New York on July 24, 2011.

Image: Stacy Bengs/Associated Press

By Yohana Desta2014-05-17 10:09:00 UTC

Saturday marks 10 years since same-sex marriage was first legalized in the United States. Massachusetts was the first state to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, on May 17, 2004.

Iowa, Maine and Vermont followed in 2009, and more since, though the history of same-sex marriage in the U.S. is storied with struggles and legislative roadblocks.

The first notable state case for marriage equality was Baker v. Nelson. In 1971, couple Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell applied for a Minneapolis marriage license with court clerk Gerald R. Nelson. They were denied, because state law required applicants to be of the opposite sex. The couple appealed to the state Supreme Court, but got denied again, on the grounds that gay marriage was deemed unconstitutional at the time.

Fast forward a few decades, and gay marriage is now legal in 17 states plus the District of Columbia, including California, Connecticut, Maryland and New York. Current states in the throes of legal back and forth: Arkansas, Idaho and Michigan.

Let's take a look at some of the very first couples who were finally able to say "I do," when same-sex marriage became legalized on the state level 10 years ago.