Same-Sex Marriage Pioneers Have Broken Up
Category : Women Lifestyle, Women Personality
Julie and Hillary Goodridge, the lesbians who led the fight for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and pioneered gay marriage in America are splitting up two years after they became one of the first gay couples to legally exchange vows, saying that their marital troubles show that they are no different from heterosexual partners, saying that their marital troubles show that they are no different from heterosexual partners.
“This is the maturation of marriage,†Ms. Breslauer the spokeswoman said. “They made an enormous contribution toward marriage equality, as did the other plaintiff couples. This in no way diminishes their contribution.â€
Julie, 49, is president of an investment advisory firm, and Hillary, 50, is a grants manager for the Unitarian Universalist Association, were married on May 17, 2004, the first day that same-sex couples were permitted to wed in Massachusetts become the first state in the US under the terms of the legal action known as Goodridge v Department of Public Health.
“They are amicably living apart,†Ms. Breslauer said. “Plaintiff couples, even those who have that kind of spotlight, have real lives, and they’re not immune from the ups and downs and stresses that any relationship faces.â€
The couple and their daughter, Annie, 10, became spokeswomen of sorts for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, making their lives public in an effort to show that they were like any other couple who wanted to marry.
The Goodridges and six other couples filed the lawsuit, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, in 2001 after being denied marriage licenses. The case made its way to the state’s highest court, which ruled in November 2003 that the Massachusetts Constitution guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry. Despite Gov. Mitt Romney’s efforts to stop them, the first same-sex marriages took place six months later.
More than 8000 same-sex couples have traded vows in Massachusetts since 2004. About 45 gay and lesbian couples have divorced, according to state figures. Two states — Connecticut and Vermont — have legalized same-sex civil unions. California, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., offer gay and lesbian couples some legal rights as partners.
Carisa Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the gay rights legal group that represented the Goodridges, said she was saddened by the news. “We’re sad for them and feel that their priority, as it always has been, is their daughter,” Cunningham said.
“We respect their desire for privacy right now and we respect everything they’ve done for the community,” she added.
Same-sex marriage advocates estimate that thousands of gay couples have since tied the knot in the state.
A survey undertaken by the Boston Globe indicated that about 7,300 same-sex couples have obtained licences since gay marriage was legalised in Massachusetts, and about 45 have divorced. The news of the break-up comes as gay rights activists have suffered a series of setbacks in their campaign for same-sex marriage.
The debate over gay marriage recently has heated up again in Massachusetts after the state’s Supreme Judicial Court last week ruled that voters can decide whether to ban same-sex unions.
If enough lawmakers in the state’s legislature approve the measure, it will be put on the 2008 ballot for a popular vote.
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