Primary Sources: LGBTQ+: Marriage & Family

before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, second session, on H.J. Res. 56, May 13, 2004

"The Freedom to Marry oral history project represents the first major effort to document the vast shift in public opinion about marriage, the consequential reconsideration of our nation’s laws governing marriage, and the actions of individuals and organizations largely responsible for these changes. The project produced 23 interviews totaling nearly 100 hours of recordings. Interviewees include: Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry; Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; James Esseks, director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV project; and Thalia Zepatos, the movement’s “message guru,” who worked at Freedom to Marry as director of research and messaging."

...discusses the proposed wording for an amendment to the US Constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman

"James Justen worked for 30 years as an autoworker in Kenosha, Wisconsin, first for American Motor Corporation and then for Chrysler, before becoming active in the struggle for equal rights and benefits for gay and lesbian employees. After paying out of pocket for his domestic partner’s health insurance, Justen, who was an active member and shop steward for United Auto Workers Local 72, decided after his retirement to fight for health benefit coverage for the domestic partners of gay and lesbian workers. Although Justen, unlike many gay auto workers, did not face serious harassment while on the job, he found the struggle for equal health benefits an uphill battle. Chrysler denied his claim for equal rights, but Justen hoped to challenge their policy by encouraging another workers to challenge the unequal treatment. "

"ustice Anthony M. Kennedy delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority. The Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right to marry as one of the fundamental liberties it protects, and that analysis applies to same-sex couples in the same manner as it does to opposite-sex couples. "
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556

Information about the Social Security Administration's policies regarding same-sex couples.

"Overview: Defense of Marriage Act, which denied recognition of same-sex marriages, was unconstitutional since the disallowance of a surviving-spouse estate tax exemption based on the same-sex marriage of the spouse and the decedent, which was recognized by the state, was a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that was protected by the Fifth Amendment."