Married In Massachusetts

Marcia Kadish, left, and Tanya McCloskey exchange rings as they are married before Cambridge City Clerk Margaret Drury at Cambridge City Hall, May 17, 2004, in Cambridge, Mass. They were the first couple to be married in Cambridge, on the first day of state-sanctioned gay marriage in the United States, May 17, 2004.

Plaintiff couples Michael Horgan and Ed Balmelli, Hillary and Julie Goodridge, and David Wilson and Robert Compton, from left to right, react as they stand at the clerk's window at Boston City Hall after obtaining marriage license applications, May 17, 2004. All seven of the same-sex couples who sued for the right to wed planned to celebrate by tying the knot.

David Rudeurick, 34, center, and Michael Hight, 39, both of Somerville, Mass., kiss inside City Hall in Cambridge, Mass., May 16, 2004. The couple, who have been together for four years, were among the same-sex couples who gathered to wait for marriage licenses to be issued at midnight, marking the first day same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts.

Moira Barrett, front left, and Johanna Schulman, front right, a couple from Cambridge, Mass., join with friends Janet Prince, behind left, and Peter Bergh, behind right, while eating dinner on the steps of Cambridge City Hall, in Cambridge, Mass. while waiting in line for an application for a marriage license, May 16, 2004. Barrett and Schulman have been a couple for 16 years.

David Wilson, left, and Robert Compton, right, walk down the aisle at the beginning of their marriage ceremony at the Unitarian Universalist Arlington Street Church in Boston, May 17, 2004. Same-sex couples began to exchange marriage vows in Massachusetts, making the first time a U.S. state has granted gays and lesbians the right to marry and making the United States one of only a handful of countries where homosexuals can legally wed.

Nooni, left, and Alicia Hammarlund, with son Shiloh, 8 months, celebrate after dressing up and obtaining a marriage license in Northampton, Mass., May 17, 2004. The couple already had a ceremony but obtained the legal marriage license on the first day of state-sanctioned gay marriage in the United States.

Heidi, second left, and Gina Nortonsmith, right, with their two sons, Quinn, 4, left, and Avery, 7, walk toward court to obtain a waiver for the three-day waiting period so they can get married in Northampton, Mass., May 17, 2004. The Nortonsmiths were plaintiffs in the Massachusetts gay marriage lawsuit.

Supporters and well-wishers cheer as gay couples emerge from city hall with marriage licenses in Northampton, Mass., May 17, 2004.

Stan Chagnon, second from right, and his partner, Joe McCoy, right, are showered with rice as they emerge from the Municpal Offices building in Northampton, Mass., May 17, 2004, with marriage license in hand.

Protesters picket outside Boston City Hall as gay couples line up to apply for marriage licenses, May 17, 2004.

Boston Police try to clear a path for Hillary, Annie, and Julie Goodridge, left to right, after leaving Boston City Hall, where they applied for a marriage license. The Goodridges were the lead plantiffs in the Massachusetts gay marriage lawsuit.

John Kelly, right, of Boston, shares a kiss with his partner Stephen Kyle while waiting in line for a marriage license at Boston City Hall, May 17, 2004.

Ellen Wade, left, and her partner Maureen Brodoff, second from left, both of Newton, Mass., are congratulated after receiving their marriage license from Dawna Baccari, right, a supervisor in the City Clerk's office at Newton City Hall, May 17, 2004. The couple, one of seven plaintiff couples in the Goodridge case which established the right to gay marriage in Massachusetts, was the first to obtain a license in Newton.

John Burke, left, and his partner, Shel Goldstein, kiss as they leave Town Hall in Provincetown, Mass., May 17, 2004, after filing their intentions to marry.

Carol Specter, center left, and Phyllis Dunn, center right, make their way toward a marriage application document processing room at Cambridge City Hall, in Cambridge, Mass., May 17, 2004. Specter and Dunn, who have been a couple for 14 years, waited with hundreds of other couples before completing marriage application documents.