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Interpreting the Evidence

Marriage Equality Sashes

  • Documents in this Activity:
  • Historical Eras:

    Contemporary United States (1965 - present)

  • Thinking Skill:

    Historical Analysis & Interpretation

  • Grade Level:

    Middle School
    High School

  • Topics:

    Civil Rights
    Community
    LGBTQ+

  • Primary Source Types:

    Artifact

  • Regions:

    New York State
    United States

  • Creator:

    NYS Archives Partnership Trust Education Team

  1. Load Sashes, Empire State Pride Agenda in Main Image Viewer
  2. Load Sashes, Empire State Pride Agenda in Main Image Viewer
  3. Load Sashes, Empire State Pride Agenda in Main Image Viewer

Suggested Teaching Instructions

After years of work by LGBTQ+ activists, NYS passed the Marriage Equality Act on July 24, 2011, legally recognizing same sex marriage. New York was the 6th state to legally recognize same-sex marriage, which was not protected at the federal level until the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges. Like previous legislation, including women’s suffrage, proponents saw passage of marriage equality in a populous state like New York as an important step toward marriage equality nation-wide. Activists fought for the right to marry for many reasons, including basic equality and access to protections like health care, hospital visitation rights, and family benefits. // Albert T. Martino, Jr. and Harold Lohner, III became the first same-sex couple to marry in the City of Albany just after midnight on July 24, 2011. Their sashes, provided to the couple by the lobbying group Empire State Pride Agenda, were gifted to the museum by the couple shortly after the wedding.

Learning Standards: 
11.10 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE/DOMESTIC ISSUES (1945 – present): Racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities were addressed by individuals, groups, and organizations. Varying political philosophies prompted debates over the role of the federal government in regulating the economy and providing a social safety net. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: ID, TCC, SOC, GOV, CIV, ECO)
11.10b Individuals, diverse groups, and organizations have sought to bring about change in American society through a variety of methods.
Gay Rights and the LGBT movement (e.g., Stonewall Inn riots [1969], efforts for equal legal rights)

8.9 DOMESTIC POLITICS AND REFORM: The civil rights movement and the Great Society were attempts by people and the government to address major social, legal, economic, and environmental problems. Subsequent economic recession called for a new economic program. (Standards: 1, 4, 5; Themes: TCC, SOC, CIV, ECO)
8.9b The civil rights movement prompted renewed efforts for equality by women and other groups.
Students will examine struggles for equality and factors that enabled or limited success on behalf of women, farm workers, Native Americans, the disabled, and the LGBT community.