Sashes, Empire State Pride Agenda

Date

2011

Description

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.

Type

Artifact

Region

New York State

Era

Contemporary United States

Topic

Civil Rights, Community, LGBTQ+

Repository

New York State Museum

Identifer

H-2016.6

Source

New York State Museum, H-2016.6

Rights

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