In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's Supreme Court found that their Constitution could no longer exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage rights.

That watershed decision from Goodridge vs. Department of Health paved the way for LGBTQ+ rights across the country, which eventually saw same-sex marriage federally legalized in 2015. Since then, more than 700,000 same-sex couples have married across the country.

But what prompted the fight for same-sex marriage in the first place? And where does the fight for equal rights under the law stand today?

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