Richard John "Jack" Baker (nascido em 10 de março de 1942) e James Michael McConnell (nascido em 19 de maio de 1942) são o primeiro casal do mesmo sexo a se casar legalmente nos Estados Unidos com uma licença de casamento que nunca foi revogada. O casamento deles foi considerado o primeiro casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo já registrado nos arquivos públicos de qualquer governo civil.Sources: McConnell Files, "America's First Gay Marriage" (binder #4), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW by Assistant Chief Judge Gregory Anderson (September 18, 2018). Fifth Judicial District, File #07-CV-16-4559 (page 4): "The September 3, 1971 marriage of James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell, a/k/a Richard John Baker, has never been dissolved or annulled by judicial decree and no grounds currently exist on which to invalidate the marriage". Available online from University of Minnesota Libraries. Posted online by Minnesota Judicial Branch. NOTE: To reach the document, it may be necessary to copy-and-paste the hyperlink into a different browser. (1) Add Case Number = 07-CV-16-4559, then (2) scroll to "Findings of Fact Conclusions of Law and Order" (09/18/2018), then (3) download PDF.StoryCorps Archive (September 12, 2017).
Michael McConnell (75) and husband Jack Baker (75) talk with friend Lisa Vecoli (55) about having the first same-sex marriage legally recognized by a U.S. civil government in 1971, why they chose to get married, and what the response to their marriage was like. JB describes the decades-long (46-year) process from the denial of their marriage license in 1971 until a second request that same year in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, was "declared to be in all respects valid" by Order of Gregory J. Anderson, Judge of District Court.Newsletter (p. 6), "Hidden Treasures from the Stacks", September 2013; available online from The National Archives at Kansas City.Source: Chapter 24;
Eles se conheceram em 1966, e Baker propôs que o casal iniciasse um relacionamento sério em seu aniversário em março de 1967, com McConnell concordando apenas com a condição de que Baker encontrasse uma maneira de eles se casarem, e Baker se matriculasse como estudante de direito em para exercer o seu direito de casar.Sources: McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 5a–e and 8c), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries.
September 1947: To ensure that the remaining four of ten children – two boys and two girls – remained together, Baker was allowed to enter the first grade at age 5 and graduate from high school at age 17, a stay of almost 12 years. March 1967: On Baker's 25th Birthday, McConnell insisted that he would accept Baker's invitation to commit as lovers if, and only if, he could find a way for the relationship to be recognized as a "legal" marriage.
Baker, então estudante, e McConnell, bibliotecário, tornaram-se ativistas gays no estado americano de Minnesota de 1969 a 1980. Depois de terem sua licença de casamento recusada em 1970, eles conseguiram obter uma em um condado diferente e se casaram em Minnesota em 3 de setembro de 1971. Mais tarde, eles foram frequentemente convidados a aparecer e falar em faculdades, escolas, empresas e igrejas nos EUA e no Canadá, embora seu casamento muitas vezes não fosse reconhecido como legal, por exemplo, por vários tribunais, o IRS e a Administração de Veteranos, até uma decisão em 2018.See: McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" [volumes 2c and 2d], Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries
Em 15 de outubro de 1971, a Suprema Corte de Minnesota no caso Baker v. Nelson confirmou a recusa de um escrivão no início de 1970 para emitir-lhes uma certidão de casamento no condado de Hennepin pelo único motivo de serem parceiros do mesmo sexo (apesar de isso não ter sido identificado na lei de Minnesota como motivo para proibir o casamento).Sources: McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volume 2ab), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries.
Letter addressed to Gerald R. Nelson, Clerk of District Court, from George M. Scot, County Attorney. "The consequences of an interpretation of our marriage statutes which would permit males to enter into the marriage contract could be to result in an undermining and destruction of the entire legal concept of our family structure in all areas of law." May 1970, page 6."Minnesota Statutes Annotated", West Publishing Co. (1970)
Chapter 517.01: Marriage a civil contract. "Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential." Chapter 517.03: Marriages prohibited. [The list does not include parties of the same gender.] Seu apelo à Suprema Corte dos EUA foi inicialmente aceito mas foi então rejeitado por unanimidade.Sources: McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" (binder #3), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries.
October Term, 1972: "Appellee's Motion to Dismiss Appeal and Brief" by George M. Scott, County Attorney page 7: "Questions Raised by This Appeal Are Moot".
Eles e outros afirmaram que nenhuma das decisões afetou diretamente a validade do casamento de Baker e McConnell, porque embora lhes tenha sido recusada uma licença de casamento no condado de Hennepin, eles conseguiram obter uma no condado de Blue Earth quando mais tarde solicitaram uma lá em agosto de 1971, e eles se casaram em 3 de setembro usando essa licença antes que a Suprema Corte de Minnesota decidisse em 15 de outubro em apoio à recusa do escrivão do condado de Hennepin em emitir-lhes uma licença.
Primeiros anos miniaturadaimagem|Jack BakerSources: McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volumes 6a–b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries. As a student body president, elected 1971 and re-elected 1972, he was known by different names.
March 1942: Richard John Baker, Certificate of Birth September 1969: Jack Baker, name adopted to lead activists demanding gay equality August 1971: Pat Lyn McConnell, married name; by Decree of Adoption aos 15 anos (esquerda, traseira)Photo by staff, "The Voice of Maryville" (1957). Baker nasceu em Chicago em 10 de março de 1942 e, depois que seus pais morreram, ele passou da 1ª à 12ª série na Maryville Academy em Des Plaines, Illinois, um internato católico.
Nascido em Norman, Oklahoma, também em 1942, James Michael McConnell foi criado e amado por seus pais batistas.Gale Langer Karwoski, "The Wedding Heard 'Round The World", University of Minnesota Press (2016) Depois de se formar na Norman High School, ele frequentou a Universidade de Oklahoma (OU), terminando com o título de Mestre em Biblioteconomia.
Enquanto estava na ativa (quatro anos) na Força Aérea dos EUA, Baker foi aceito no Programa de Comissionamento de Educação de Aviadores e estacionado na OU, onde obteve o diploma de Bacharel em Ciências em Engenharia industrial. Ele voltou para Norman como civil, conheceu McConnell,Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality" (2004), page 2. available online from University of Minnesota Libraries.
At a party, in a barn, on farmland, near Norman (October 31, 1966). e o convidou para sair. Com relutância, seu amigo concordou em iniciar um relacionamento sério. Baker também recebeu mais tarde um mestrado em junho de 1968.
Ativismo FREE Em 1969, semanas antes da rebelião de Stonewall,Sources: McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" (Gift #13), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries.
Binder #7: MEMORANDUM for the record (19 May 2021). Some credit New York City, incorrectly, as "the cradle of the modern LGBT rights movement". Riots there were a response to police harassment and had nothing to do with either "Gay Pride" celebrations or demands for "Gay Marriage", both of which began in Minneapolis from where they spread worldwide. "Gay Pride" appears on fliers waved by a few individuals in a march entitled "Gay and Proud", which was promoted by its sponsors as "the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, held in New York City, New York, on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots." Source: video; available online from the Library of Congress. Stonewall leadership decided to change its commemoration of riots to a celebration of "Gay Pride" after Thom Higgins, formerly a monk before joining FREE, coined the term for that purpose. Binder #7a: Egil Jonsson posted his copy of Jim Chalgren's 'Gay Pride' photo on his Facebook page (February 29, 2012, re-posted on June 24, 2019) with this comment: "I am in the orange range, 16 years old. This was the first gay rights march in the country that had a headline banner "Gay Pride". The following year all the marches adopted this and everyone called it Gay Pride. The banner was made by a friend, Thom Higgins, . . . Thom and I dated, [became] friends in 1980." dois colegas de quarto recrutaram amigos locais para se juntarem a uma equipe chamada "Luta contra a repressão da expressão erótica" como parte de um programa de extensão patrocinado pela Minnesota Free University.Office: 529 Cedar Avenue, in the Cedar Riverside Neighborhood of Minneapolis, near the University of Minnesota's expanding campus on the West Bank of the Mississippi.
New course: K.A. Phelps, "The Homosexual Revolution", Bulletin No. 5 (May 18, 1969). Source: McConnell Files, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries. Robert Halfhill, um estudante de pós-graduação que assistiu à palestra, queria mais do que "apenas uma organização social".Scott Paulsen, "Twin Cities Gay and Lesbian Community Oral History Project", Minnesota Historical Society : GUIDE: If the interview does not appear on your screen, copy-n-paste the hyperlink into a different browser.
(page 14) SP: There was someone who had a lot of press nationally, that's Jack Baker. Can you tell me something about his involvement and what you thought of him and his role in FREE and the gay community? Let's just start with FREE. → KP: [I was] really upset with Jack. . . . the right to get married was just a publicity stunt. I was really angry about that and felt that Jack was an opportunist and really in it for himself. . . . I think one of the reasons I didn't hang in there is because the group was moving. After the initial public political things we did, I think the group was moving in a direction of being more just a social organization and moving more toward the Democratic party, with Jack being this sort of benevolent dictator. The whole thing was just not what I liked to be a part of. (page 16) KP: There were not enough lesbians who were politically conscious at the time to come in and be a force in FREE. I thought that's the way it was. I would say at the beginning of almost every meeting, "Where are the women?" and everybody would laugh. (page 20) SP: Yes, Gay Pride and the march. → KP: Most definitely it is a creation FREE and the people in FREE. . . . I don't think I even went to a picnic. . . . Ele saiu, determinado a liderar um grupo independente de estudantes e ativistas "FREE"Bruce Johasen, "Out of Silence", Minnesota History (Spring 2019), 189. -> "Halfhill steered the group through the administrative channels needed to establish FREE as a student group". no campus de Minneapolis da Universidade de Minnesota.
Os participantes elegeram Jack Baker, um estudante de direito, para servir como presidente.Neal R. Peirce, "The Great Plains States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Nine Great Plains States", George J. McLeod (1973), 145. Available online, accessed February 7, 2014 Agindo de forma agressiva e aberta, o FREE acabou transformando Minneapolis em uma "meca para gays",Lily Hansen, GAY, "F.R.E.E. At Last" (May 11, 1970), 13.