Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell are American LGBTQ rights activists, known for being the first legally married same-sex couple in recorded history.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. Married in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on September 3, 1971, they had legally obtained a marriage license and a marriage certificateSource: Blue Earth County Certificate Number 434960: Minnesota Official Marriage System Applicants: James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell Date of Marriage: September 3, 1971 Certified copies of Blue Earth County marriage certificates are available from the county government yet their marriage was unrecognized and unrecorded by both state and federal entities until Sept 2018, when a state court upheld their license and certificate as valid.
Synopsis
The couple met in 1966. On March 10, 1967 – Baker's 25th birthday – McConnell agreed to be "his lover" but only if it meant "a commitment ... for the long haul", living openly as a married couple. Jack agreed to find a way to make it happen by abandoning his engineering career and attending any law school that would accept his application.
Baker began pursuing his promise to obtain a legal right to marry before he enrolled as a law student in late 1969. He and McConnell, a librarian, became gay rights activists in Minnesota from 1969 to 1980.
On May 22, 1970, when Baker and McConnell applied for a marriage license,. the Clerk of District Court in Hennepin County refused to issue it to them, based on the recommendation of the County Attorney, who opined that allowing the marriage could "result in an undermining and destruction of the entire legal concept of our family structure in all areas of law".Source: Letter addressed to Gerald R. Nelson, Clerk of District Court, from George M. Scot, County Attorney, page 6. (May 22, 1970) "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." Copies: Minnesota Judicial Branch, Hennepin County District Court, Fourth Judicial District, File No. 671379.Source: Letter addressed to Gerald R. Nelson, Clerk of District Court, from George M. Scot, County Attorney, pages 6-7. (May 22, 1970) It "is the opinion of this office that you should not issue the license for marriage to the applicants Richard John Baker and James Michael McConnell on the grounds that under the law of the State of Minnesota, as the same presently exists, two male persons may not enter into the contract of marriage." Courtesy: University of Minnesota Libraries preserving the Michael McConnell Collection within its Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies: volume 2ab Copies: Minnesota Judicial Branch, Hennepin County District Court, Fourth Judicial District, File No. 671379. After being refused they filed a "motion for the issuance of a writ of mandamus to require ... the Clerk ... to issue a marriage license ..."Source: R. Michael Wetherbee, Attorney for Plaintiffs "Plaintiff's Memorandum in Support of Motion", Baker and McConnell -vs- [Clerk of District Court] Gerald R. Nelson. News: Anon., Associated Press, "Marriage Is Out", Kansas City Star, 30A. (May 24, 1970) Copies: Minnesota Judicial Branch, Hennepin County District Court, Fourth Judicial District, File No. 671379. Denial in the lower courtSource: Judge Stanley Kane, "Order" (December 2, 1970). "It is hereby ordered that said motion be and the same hereby is denied." News: Anon., "Gay Marriage Plea Is Denied", St. Paul Pioneer Press, 27. (November 19, 1970) was affirmed by the Minnesota Supreme CourtSource: Justice C. Donald Peterson, Baker v. Nelson, 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185, 186. (October 15, 1971) "The institution of marriage as a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation or rearing of children within a family, is as old as the book of Genesis". News: Anon., "Court Won't Let Men Wed", The New York Times, 65. (January 10, 1971) on October 15, 1971, in Baker v. Nelson, noting that even though the parties were not "prohibited"Source: "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 of prohibited marriages did not include parties of the same gender.] by the marriage law to claim the benefits of "contract", a "sensible reading" of the statute "does not authorize" marriage between persons of the same sex. However, before the final opinion was published, McConnell re-applied in a different county.
After being refused in their first attempt to obtain a marriage license in Hennepin County, Michael McConnell adopted Baker on August 3, 1971. Baker changed his legal name to Pat Lyn McConnell, although he continued to use "Jack Baker" as his political persona. Now with a gender-neutral name, McConnell applied for a marriage license in Blue Earth County on August 9, 1971, which was issued in MankatoSource: Anon., "Daily Record", Mankato Free Press. (16 August 1971) Listing of applications filed and approved by the Clerk of District Court, Fifth Judicial District, which includes Blue Earth County. on August 16, 1971 while the couple was visiting friends. Rev. Roger Lynn,Source: Logan Chelmo, "Honoring Rev. Roger Lynn", YouTube. (6 June 2021) "In 1971, the first ever same sex marriage took place. One man, made that possible. Reverend Roger Lynn is a minister who officiated the first gay wedding. This is a video to honor him and his significance in gay rights and equality." a United Methodist minister from the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, validatedSource: Claire Bowes, "Jack Baker and Michael McConnell: Gay Americans who married in 1971", BBC News Magazine. (3 July 2013) Photo caption: "Pastor Roger Lynn holds up Baker and McConnell's marriage certificate" from the ceremony he conducted in Minneapolis the marriage contract on September 3, 1971, at a private home in Minneapolis.Source: Jason Rantala, "52 Years Since Same-sex Marriage Milestone", CBS News Minnesota. (3 September 2023). The Hennepin County Attorney convened a grand jury to investigate if Rev. Lynn had committed a crime but soon realized that some jurors found the legality of this marriage not worth pursuing. "Thus the marriage remained in effect."Source: Anon., "Homosexual Wins Fight to Take Bar Examination in Minnesota", The New York Times, 55. (7 January 1973)
Initial reactionsSources: Pat Kessler, "A Rare Glimpse At Minn.'s 1st Gay Wedding In 1971", WCCO-TV / CBS, Minneapolis, MN (July 31, 2013): "What is believed to be the first same-sex marriage in the United States was performed in Minnesota"; also Naomi Pescovitz, "Pastor Reflects Back on Minn. Gay Marriage", , Minneapolis, MN (May 16, 2013); and Associated Press, "They're Mr. and Mr.", San Francisco Chronicle, 3. (September 8, 1971) were not favorable. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, sponsored by the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union,Source: Jason Smith, "Gay Pride Block Party Case", Friends of the Bill of Rights Foundation, page 52. (January 2012) In a letter from Norman Dorsen, General Counsel for ACLU (1970), the American Civil Liberties Union refused a request for legal support after its board showed "little or no enthusiasm" for gay marriage. Courtesy: University of Minnesota Libraries preserving the Michael McConnell Collection within its Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies. Context: According to Professor Thomas Kraemer [Oregon State University], Tom's OSU, early gay activists [in New York City] "were mostly interested in sexual freedom and gay liberation". (July 7, 2012) was dismissed "for want of a substantial federal question".Source: Jess Bravin, "Supreme Court Clerk Remembers First Same-Sex Marriage Case", The Wall Street Journal. (1 May 2015) According to his clerk, Justice Harry Blackmun said, "I just [didn't] think the court was ready at the time to take on the issue." on October 10, 1972, after the justices learnedSource: On page 7 of "Appellee's Motion to Dismiss Appeal and Brief" by George M. Scott, County Attorney: a chapter entitled "Questions Raised by This Appeal Are Moot". (October Term 1972) Courtesy: University of Minnesota Libraries preserving the Michael McConnell Collection within its Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies. (binder #3) that the couple had previously obtained a marriage license in a different county on August 16, 1971 long before the appeal was filed in October 1971. The clerk who gave them that license had not realized that both members of the couple were men, since Baker had changed his legal given name to "Pat Lyn", a name that is not obviously male. Upon discovering the error, the clerk did not officially record the issuing of the license, and that marriage remained unrecorded and unrecognized by both state and federal entities until its validity was affirmed on September 18, 2018, by a judge in Blue Earth County, who declared "The marriage ... to be in all respects valid"Source: Title: Assistant Chief Judge, Fifth Judicial District, from Blue Earth County District Court in re James Michael McConnell et al. v. Blue Earth County et al. Courtesy: University of Minnesota Libraries preserving the Michael McConnell Collection within its Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies. (binder #4) and ordered the Clerk of Court to record it. Since the marriage had never been declared nullified, it was ruled to have been valid for its entire duration.
The Family Law Reporter argued that the Minnesota Supreme Court in Baker v. Nelson could not annul a marriage contract that was validated "a full six weeks"Source: Bureau of National Affairs, "Gay married couple frustrated in adoption bid", The Family Law Reporter, page 2103. (10 December 1974) The "federal constitution prohibition against ex post facto laws . . . forbids the imposition of punishment for past conduct lawful at the time it was engaged". before its decision was filed. Baker and McConnell (and others) assumed correctly that a dismissal of the Hennepin County case by either the state supreme court or the U.S. Supreme Court in October 1971 did not affect the validity of their marriage license issued by Blue Earth County. Professor Thomas Kraemer insisted that FREESource: Press release, "Minnesota Hosts First Legally Sanctioned Same-Sex Marriage", Minnesota Student Association. (7 September 1971) Courtesy: University of Minnesota Libraries, preserving the Michael McConnell Collection within its Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies. had hosted "the first same-sex couple in history to be legally married".Source: Professor Thomas Kraemer [Oregon State University], "Gay marriage discussion in 1953 vs. 1963 and today" (December 16, 2013). Blog from Tom's OSU no longer available online.