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Goodridge Decision Spawns Action

By Kevin Adler

Although the average American might feel that same-sex marriages in Massachusetts materialized overnight, activists who have worked on the issue say that the Goodridge decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in November 2003 was not a complete surprise. Goodridge was the result of a well-planned, long-term strategy by same-sex marriage proponents to bring the issue into the legal, cultural, and political mainstream.

Massachusetts has long been recognized as a promising state for testing America's historic opposition to same-sex marriages. Two aspects of Massachusetts law that are found in combination in only a few states were cited by the Goodridge court: the lack of a clear prohibition against same-sex marriages; and strong laws requiring equal protection under the law for homosexuals.

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