How Change is Effected: courts, legislation, grass roots - led by Martha Coakley

Session #2: MARRIAGE EQUALITY

We will examine how the traditional and historical approach to marriage (with some exceptions) of one man, one woman, has seen not only enormous changes through court challenges and decisions but also popular support for marriage equality for gay men and lesbian women.  How did this happen?  What role did religious beliefs play?  We will discuss the ways that Massachusetts, with leadership from GLAD for individual plaintiffs and the Attorney General, for the Commonwealth, brought both a legal and common sense approach to the need for change and has been able to impact national policy.  We will discuss the important players in the strategy and legal challenges, beginning in 2004 with the Mass. Supreme Court decision Goodrich v. Commonwealth, to the national efforts in the 1990s to prevent any changes to the traditional state laws around marriage, and what’s next.

Guest: Barney Frank, former US Representative (D-MA)

Room: L166, HKS

***All study groups are off-the-record and not for media coverage***