The battle for marriage equality goes back to 1970. Richard Baker and James McConnell applied for a marriage license in Minnesota. They were denied, so they sued claiming that state law made no mention of gender as it pertained to marriage. The case went as far as the state Supreme Court, but — spoiler alert! — things did not go in our favor.
It took 45 years, until 2015, for same-sex marriage to be realized at the federal level.
Now you’re asking: How did Britt and Dave get married seven years before 2015?
Our marriage was only recognized at the state level in California. For seven years, we were denied all of the federal rights and privileges — more than 1,000 of them — that opposite-sex married couples had. This had a quantifiable financial toll on us, as we had to pay taxes that other married couples did not. We also had to draw up legal papers that others did not require. Even worse, we had no marriage rights in our home state of Florida — under Florida law, we were roommates, not spouses.