Same-sex marriage in New England

There were several reasons given for the strong legal recognition in New England, in contrast to the rest of the United States. For instance, New England has strong libertarian associations,[1][9] and other social movements, such as abolition of slavery and women's suffrage, started in New England.[1] In addition, voters in most New England states cannot initiate constitutional amendments, which has been a common strategy in preventing same-sex marriage elsewhere.[1][9]

There are a number of demographics which worked to same-sex marriage proponents' favor:

1. New England is regarded as the least religious region of the country, and religiosity has been tied in polls to opposition to same-sex marriage.[1][10]
2. There are a large number of Democrats in New England, and Democrats are more likely than Republicans and independents to support same-sex marriage.[12]
3. New England has higher education attainment levels than the rest of the country,[12][13] and polling has shown that support for gay marriage rises with education levels.[12][14][15][16]

There have been a number of opinions made on possible cultural factors that could have contributed to the strong legal support in New England:

1. New Englanders outside Massachusetts share media markets and do not believe they have seen negative consequences from the state's legalization of same-sex marriage there.[11][17] As well New Englanders have seen same-sex unions for a decade, since Vermont was the first in the nation with civil unions in 2000.[12]
2. Same-sex couples have found more acceptance in New England for over a century, for instance "Boston marriages" between women in the 19th century.[1]
3. There is a view of religion as private and personal, and a separation of one's own beliefs from politics, that does not necessarily exist in other regions of the country[12]
4. Catholics, who dominate the region's religious landscape, were at one point a persecuted minority, and may see their own past reflected in the modern LGBT community.[12]
5. The presence of GLAD in the region, which is based in Boston.[12]

The 6×12 campaign, led by GLAD and working with other statewide groups, began on November 18, 2008, the fifth anniversary of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts,[18] with the goal of bringing same-sex marriage to all of New England by 2012.

The campaign began a week after same-sex marriage was brought to Connecticut, and the campaign is striving for New England to be a "marriage equality zone."[19] To achieve this, groups have been raising money, training volunteers and lobbying voters and lawmakers as part of this campaign, led by GLAD, which is a legal advocacy group and the group which persuaded the Supreme Courts in Massachusetts and Connecticut to allow same-sex marriage in 2003 and 2008.[20] The campaign has been working primarily through state legislatures, and looking towards the future the campaign sees this as a road map for the rest of the country in 2012.[21]

Some same-sex marriage opponents initially doubted that there was enough support for legislatures to pass laws for same-sex marriage; doubters also saw how same-sex marriage previously only advanced through the judiciary.[21][22] But within seven months into the campaign, same-sex marriage laws were passed in four more states, although Maine's law was repealed by a people's veto on November 3, 2009 funded heavily by organizations from outside the state. However, in the 2012 election, same-sex marriage in Maine was approved by popular vote, meaning five of the six states had legalized same-sex marriage. The full sweep was brought by Rhode Island's legislature passing same-sex marriage the following May.

On November 12, 2008, Connecticut joined Massachusetts as the second state in the U.S. to allow same-sex couples to marry.[23]

A bill to allow same-sex marriage in Maine was signed into law on May 6, 2009. Maine was the fifth U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage,[24] and the second to legislate it.[25] The governor also became the first in the nation to sign a same-sex marriage bill that was not the result of a court decision. (Vermont's was enacted by the legislature over the governor's veto.)[8] Enough signatures were collected to prevent the statute from going into effect until it was put to a popular vote as a question on the November 3, 2009 statewide ballot.[26][27] Maine voters repealed the same-sex marriage law by a narrow margin. Three years later, on November 6, 2012, the voters in Maine approved same-sex marriage, becoming the first state to do so by popular vote.

Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts became the sixth jurisdiction in the world (after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec) to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first U.S. state to make same-sex marriages legal.[2]

Civil unions began on January 1, 2008; legislation for full marriage rights began in March 2009. A bill legalizing same-sex marriage was signed on June 3, 2009. Same-sex marriages began on January 1, 2010.

Same-sex marriage was recognised in Rhode Island but not performed until legalized in 2013. Bills were introduced to the Rhode Island General Assembly every year since 1997, and after the Republican governor (who promised to veto it if passed) left office, things gained traction.[28] Nevertheless, the odds against same-sex marriage in Rhode Island were considered rather higher than in the rest of New England, primarily on account of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.[29] The state has taken a more conservative stance on several social issues in the past, including abortion.[30] After 16 years, bills passed final votes and were signed into law by Governor Lincoln Chafee on May 2, 2013, with same-sex marriage set to begin on August 1.[31]

In April 2009, Vermont legalized same sex marriage, and became the first state to do it through the legislature and not judicial review. The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its "first-in-the-nation" civil unions law in 2000,[3] which was the first place in the United States to extend full legal recognition to same-sex couples. (Several states and cities already had "domestic partnership" registries prior to this point.)