June is Pride Month, and at Nexus Family Law Group, we want to take a moment to step back from the day-to-day and celebrate one of the most significant civil rights milestones in American history: the long, hard-fought road to marriage equality. This is a story about love, persistence, and the law slowly catching up to what so many people already knew to be true.
The Long Road to Marriage Equality
The fight for marriage equality in the United States has been decades in the making, shaped by shifting public opinion, state-by-state legal battles, and a series of pivotal federal court decisions.
Early Efforts and the Defense of Marriage Act (1996)
The conversation around same-sex marriage gained national attention in the early 1990s when legal challenges in Hawaii raised the possibility that the state might be required to recognize same-sex marriages. In response, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, which President Bill Clinton signed into law. DOMA defined marriage at the federal level as a union between one man and one woman. DOMA also allowed individual states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, which directly contradicted Article IV, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, known as the “Full Faith and Credit Clause”. For same-sex couples, this meant being locked out of more than a thousand federal rights and benefits tied to marriage, including tax filing status, Social Security benefits, and immigration protections.
It was a significant setback, but it didn’t stop the movement.
Massachusetts Leads the Way (2004)
The tide began to turn in 2003 when the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that same-sex couples had the right to marry. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Though these marriages carried the full weight of state law, the federal government still refused to recognize them under DOMA. It was an incomplete victory, but a victory nonetheless, and it cracked something open. California and Connecticut followed in 2008. Iowa and Vermont in 2009. The map was slowly changing.
United States v. Windsor (2013)
One of the most important stepping stones to full marriage equality was United States v. Windsor, decided by the Supreme Court on June 26, 2013. Edith Windsor had been married to her partner, Thea Spyer, for decades. When Spyer passed away, Windsor was forced to pay more than $360,000 in estate taxes that a heterosexual widow would not have owed, because the federal government refused to recognize their marriage. She sued, and she won. The Court struck down Section 3 of DOMA as unconstitutional under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they were legal. It still wasn’t the full picture, but it was a giant leap.
Colorado’s Own Chapter (2014)
Here in Colorado, the journey had its own meaningful moments. Same-sex marriage became legally recognized in Colorado on October 7, 2014, after the Colorado Supreme Court lifted the last legal barriers and directed county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses. Colorado courts had found the state’s ban unconstitutional earlier that year, and Colorado became the 25th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Before that, the state had enacted civil unions in May 2013, which was meaningful but still a step short of the full equality that couples deserved.
It’s also worth noting a quirky piece of Colorado history: in 1975, Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex became the first county clerk in the nation to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after interpreting Colorado’s statutes as permitting it. The licenses were eventually challenged and the practice stopped, but it was a remarkable moment of local leadership that was decades ahead of its time.
Obergefell v. Hodges: The Decision That Changed Everything
The Human Story Behind the Case
The case that would define marriage equality for the entire country began with a love story spanning more than two decades. James Obergefell and John Arthur had built a life together in Ohio. When Arthur was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal illness, the couple flew to Maryland to get married, knowing that time was running short. Ohio, however, refused to recognize their marriage. All James Obergefell wanted was to be listed as his husband’s surviving spouse on Arthur’s death certificate. A simple, human thing.
John Arthur passed away in October 2013, three months after they married. James Obergefell kept fighting.
Obergefell v. Hodges ultimately became a consolidation of related cases from Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, all challenging state bans on same-sex marriage and the refusal to recognize marriages performed elsewhere, which . The plaintiffs were nurses, teachers, military veterans, and retirees. They were people who had built families and lives together and simply wanted the law to recognize what they already knew to be true.
The Ruling
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that same-sex marriage is protected under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had written the majority opinions in three previous landmark LGBTQ+ rights cases, wrote the opinion. The Court held that the fundamental right to marry cannot be limited to opposite-sex couples, and that denying same-sex couples that right violated the core promises of the Constitution.
The majority opinion’s closing words have resonated far beyond the courtroom:
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”
Every state was now required to both perform and recognize same-sex marriages. It was, at last, the law of the land.
What It Meant
The impact was immediate. Same-sex couples who had waited years, sometimes decades, for legal recognition could now marry anywhere in the country and have that marriage recognized everywhere. The rights that flow from marriage, including inheritance, hospital visitation, medical decision-making, tax benefits, and parenting rights, were now fully available. For couples in Colorado, it reinforced what had been the law since 2014 and added the constitutional certainty that only a Supreme Court ruling can provide.
The Respect for Marriage Act (2022)
The story didn’t end with Obergefell. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Congress moved to add a legislative layer of protection for marriage equality. President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on December 13, 2022, with bipartisan support from both chambers. The law officially repealed DOMA and required all states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states, regardless of what the Supreme Court might do in the future. It was a recognition that rights, once won, are worth protecting.
A Moment Worth Celebrating
The road to marriage equality was long, and it was shaped by the courage of ordinary people who refused to be told their love didn’t count. From Edith Windsor to James Obergefell, from the county clerks who pushed the limits of their authority to the advocates who spent decades in courtrooms and legislative chambers, this milestone belongs to a lot of people.
This Pride Month, we’re grateful to be part of a state with a proud history on these issues, and we’re proud to serve every kind of Colorado family. Happy Pride.