CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WPRI) — History was made 19 years ago at Cambridge City Hall.
On May 17, 2004, Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey of Malden became the first same-sex partners legally married in the United States.
On that day, 77 other same-sex couples tied the knot across the state, while hundreds more applied for marriage licenses.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional in November 2003, giving the state 180 days to change the law. Efforts to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriages but recognize civil unions were struck down.
Same-sex marriage became legal in all 50 states on June 26, 2015, after a landmark Supreme Court decision. The court ruled states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.