Michael McConnell and Jack Baker

James Michael McConnell[1] (born 1942) and Richard John "Jack" Baker (born 1942)[2][3] are the first legally married same-sex couple in United States history.[4] Their marriage is also "the earliest same-gender marriage ever to be recorded in the public files of any civil government."[5][6]

Husbands Mike McConnell (left) and Jack Baker in 2016

McConnell, a librarian, and Baker, a law student, were married in the U.S. state of Minnesota on 3 September 1971. Both were activists in Minnesota from 1969 to 1980. They were invited often to appear publicly in the U.S. and Canada at college events, schools, businesses, churches, etc.[7]

Historians argued, correctly,[8] that the interpretation of "Marriages prohibited"[9] by the Minnesota Supreme Court in Baker v. Nelson (1971) did not apply to McConnell and Baker because they obtained a license and were married six weeks before that Court's opinion[10] became final.

Early years

Born in Norman, Oklahoma (1942), James Michael McConnell was raised and loved by his Baptist[11] parents. After graduating from Norman High School, he attended the University of Oklahoma (OU), ending with an MLS Degree (Master of Library Science). Baker was born in Chicago (1942) and, after both parents died, spent grades 1 - 12 at Maryville Academy,[12] a Catholic boarding school.

While on active duty (four years) in the U.S. Air Force, Baker was accepted in the Airmen Education Commissioning Program and stationed at OU, where he earned a BSIE degree (Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering).[13][14] He returned to Norman as a civilian – "Boy meets boy"[15] – and invited McConnell to hang out together. With reluctance, his friend agreed to negotiate a serious relationship.[12]

FREE activism

In 1969, weeks before the Stonewall riots,[16][17][18] two activists recruited local friends to join a team called "Fight Repression of Erotic Expression" as part of an outreach program sponsored by Minnesota Free University.[19]

  • Robert Halfhill, a graduate student who attended their lecture, left determined to form an independent group called "FREE"[20] on the Minneapolis campus (U of M) of the University of Minnesota. Attendees elected Jack Baker, a law student,[21] to serve as president.[22]
  • Moving openly and aggressively, FREE slowly transformed Minneapolis into a "mecca for gays",[23] with members soon endorsing McConnell's demand for same-sex marriage.[24]

When a faculty committee qualified the group for all privileges enjoyed by student organizations,[25] it became "the first student gay organization to gain recognition in the upper mid-west."[26] Its "leaders [believed] it to be the first such organization on a Big Ten campus", and the second such organization in the United States, following the Student Homophile League[27] recognized by Columbia University in 1967.[28]

One member asked five major companies with local offices to explain their attitudes toward gay men and women. Three responded quickly,[29] insisting that they did not discriminate against gay people in their hiring policies. Only Honeywell objected.[30] Later, when faced with a denial of access to students, Honeywell "quietly [reversed] its hiring policy".[31]

In 1971, Baker campaigned[32] to become president of the Minnesota Student Association at the U of M. He promised "A New Level Of Self-Respect",[33] insisting that there was no need to wait for a new law to involve a student voice in regent decisions. "The Regents already have the power to appoint students to all committees of the Board or Regents."[34]

  • Baker was elected.[35] When re-elected,[36] one student was invited to sit with the regents as a non-voting member of each committee. That practice continued, becoming policy.[37]
  • After graduation, the Governor signed into law a bill reserving one seat on the Board of Regents for an enrolled student.[38]

The birth of PRIDE
Photo by Jim Chalgren, June 1973. Courtesy: Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries, Minneapolis.

In 1971, Members of FREE from Gay House invited friends to meet at picnics in Loring Park, near Downtown Minneapolis. Such self-pride events began in mid-June as a prelude to local celebrations of Independence Day.[39] Thom Higgins crafted Gay Pride[18] for the banner and chant to encourage allies, supporters and bystanders to defeat[40] condemnation of both the gay life-style and self-pride as a sin by the Catholic archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

  • "At the time, Jack was the Chair of the Target City Coalition, parent corporation for The Gay Pride Committee, which sponsored the Festival of Pride each June."[41]
  • Such celebrations spread and became the PRIDE tradition that thrives today in cities throughout the United States.[18]

In 1973, FREE continued working with U of M faculty to protect gay students from discrimination.[42] Central Administration approved the final draft of a new policy in 1972 and the Campus Committee on Placement Services began accepting complaints of unequal treatment by employers recruiting on campus. A member of FREE received class credit for a documentary about America's first gay marriage,[43] which was aired by the local CBS affiliate on a Sunday in September.[44]

Same-sex marriage activism

Lawsuit to obtain a marriage licence
Main article: Baker v. Nelson

McConnell and Baker applied for a marriage license in Minneapolis,[45] arguing that "what is not forbidden is permitted".[46] Allan Spear, a professor of history at U of M, publicly mocked them as the "lunatic fringe".[47] The Clerk of District Court[48] requested legal advice and eventually denied their claim.

  • 1970: Minnesota's statutes did not forbid marriage between two adult men.[9]
  • 1971: Refusal by a lower court to order Nelson to issue a license[49] was later affirmed by the Minnesota Supreme Court.[50] However, before that decision became final, McConnell applied again – in a different county – and received a marriage license.[51]

Leadership inside the American Civil Liberties Union showed "little or no enthusiasm"[52] for gay marriage, which was "rejected by early gay activists [in New York City] who were mostly interested in sexual freedom and gay liberation."[53] Nevertheless, the initial application received extensive media attention,[54] including appearances on the Phil Donahue Show;[55] Kennedy & Co. (WLS-TV, Chicago IL); and David Susskind Show[56] (New York, NY), where Baker insisted, "We're gonna win eventually, not this time but maybe the next time around."

Same-sex marriage as a civil right
Baker and McConnell (r) at their Minneapolis home, 1970

Speaking to members of the Ramsey County Bar Association, Baker insisted that same-sex unions are "not only authorized by the U.S. Constitution" but are mandatory. "I am convinced that same-sex marriages will be legalized in the United States."[57] Later, Baker's speech to a forum of more than 2,000 at the University of Winnipeg,[58] convinced Richard North to begin his "fight to be married"[59] to Chris Vogel.[60]

  • 2003: A court of appeals in Canada legalized same-sex marriage in the province Ontario.
  • 2012: "Marriage is civil rights issue of our times"[61] The "outcome was never in doubt because the conclusion was intuitively obvious to a first-year law student."[62]

Courts debate their marriage

Marriage between McConnell and Baker depended on how Minnesota's marriage law was interpreted.[9] Early results were not favorable.[63]

Dismissal was approved unanimously and quickly[66] after the clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun crafted a one-sentence rejection. "I just [didn't] think the court was ready at the time to take on the issue."[67] Lower courts debated whether the Minnesota opinion qualified as a binding precedent.

Not so for federal agencies. When the Internal Revenue Service rejected their joint tax return for 1973,[68] McConnell responded by listing Baker as an adopted "child" on his tax returns. He received a deduction as head of household from 1974 through 2004. That benefit ended when Congress limited the deduction to an individual under the age of 19.[69]

Likewise, the Veterans Administration rejected McConnell's right to receive spousal benefits in 1976[70] because "Minnesota law prohibits same sex marriages . . ."

Adoption, name change, and a lasting marriage

After McConnell adopted Baker,[71] he re-applied and received a marriage license.[51] Rev. Roger Lynn,[72] a minister from the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, validated the marriage contract.[24][73]

  • 1971: The Hennepin County Attorney convened a grand jury, which "studied the legality of the marriage but found the question not worth pursuing."[74]
  • 2018: "The [1971] marriage is declared to be in all respects valid."[8]

Academics and legal professionals vetted facts. The Family Law Reporter argued that the 1972 opinion[10] did not invalidate the license obtained in Blue Earth County because the two were married "a full six weeks" before that decision was filed.[75] Indeed, records at The National Archives verify that "McConnell and Baker's marriage license [from Blue Earth County, MN] was never revoked. They are still married and have been for the last forty two years."[76]

Professor Thomas Kraemer insisted that FREE hosted "the first same-sex couple in history to be legally married".[77] Their wedding was proclaimed to be America's first gay marriage[43] and affirmed to be the "earliest same-gender marriage ever to be recorded in the public files of any civil government".[78]

Employment discrimination at U of M

In 1970, the University Librarian[79] invited Michael McConnell to head the Cataloging Division on the university's St. Paul campus. The Board of Regents refused to approve[80] the offer after McConnell applied for a marriage license and regent Daniel Gainey insisted that "homosexuality is about the worst thing there is."[81]

McConnell sued and prevailed in federal District Court.[82][83] The Board appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals,[84][85] which concluded that the university did not restrict free speech. Instead, it insisted, McConnell wanted "to pursue an activist role in implementing his controversial ideas concerning the social status to be accorded homosexuals and thereby to foist tacit approval of the socially repugnant concept upon his employer."[86]

  • A poll of U of M students found that more than 80%[87] objected to the regents' action.
  • Hennepin County Library, then a diverse and growing system of 26 facilities, hired McConnell. After 37 years of service, McConnell retired as a Coordinating Librarian with gratitude expressed publicly by the county Board of Commissioners.[88]

In 2012, University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler offered McConnell an apology[89] for the "reprehensible"[90] treatment he endured from the Board of Regents in 1970. McConnell accepted his assurance[91] and agreed to join the Heritage Society of the President's Club.[92]

Vindication in later years
Baker, McConnell (2016)

The couple obtained a legal marriage license before appealing the rejection in Hennepin County to the U.S. Supreme Court. Though that case ended in 1972 "for want of a substantial federal question",[66] other challenges followed. Meanwhile, they awaited affirmation of their marriage while living openly as a married couple.[64]

In 1972, Baker led the DFL Gay Rights Caucus[93] at the State Convention[94] of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. When the caucus persuaded delegates to endorse "legislation defining marriage as a civil contract between any two adults",[95] approval became the "first known case" of support by a major United States political party for same-sex marriage.

In 2003, Baker and McConnell amended their individual tax returns for the year 2000, filing jointly as a couple, offering proof of a valid marriage license from Blue Earth County. The IRS challenged the validity of the marriage and argued that, even if the license were valid, the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the IRS from recognizing it. When McConnell brought suit, the U.S. District Court for Minnesota upheld the IRS ruling[96] and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed,[97] saying that McConnell could not re-litigate a question decided previously.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the question they tried to bring before it in 1972: "Do same-sex couples have a constitutional right to get married?"[98] Minnesota's Attorney General argued, as a friend of the court, "The procreation rationale [used by the Minnesota Supreme Court] does not support the prohibition of same-sex marriage".[99] The inherent right of all citizens to marry the adult of one's choice was affirmed when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Baker v. Nelson in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015).

Interviews
  • Tom Crann (16 July 2015). "For Mpls. couple, gay marriage ruling is a victory 43 years in the making". Minnesota Public Radio News.
  • T.J. Raphael (25 June 2015). "Meet the two men who managed to get the first known same-sex marriage license - back in 1970". The Takeaway, Public Radio International.

Short documentary

Further reading

References
  1. Baume, Matt (March 1, 2019). "Meet the Gay Men Whose 1971 Marriage Was Finally Recognized". The Advocate.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Michael McConnell, Jack (Richard J.) Baker, and Lisa Vecoli".
  3. Padnani, Amisha; Fang, Celina (June 26, 2015). "Same-Sex Marriage: Landmark Decisions and Precedents". The New York Times.
  4. Michael McConnell, with Jack Baker, as Told to Gail Langer Karwoski, "The Wedding Heard Heard 'Round the World: America's First Gay Marriage.", University of Minnesota Press (2020).
  5. William N. Eskridg Jr. and Christopher R. Riano, "Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws", Yale University Press (2020), Chapter 24
  6. Eskridge, William N., Jr.; Riano, Christopher R. (2020). Marriage Equality From Outlaws to In-Laws. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300221817.
  7. See: McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" [volumes 2c and 2d], Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries
  8. Fifth Judicial District, File #07-CV-16-4559;
    • CONCLUSIONS OF LAW by Assistant Chief Judge Gregory Anderson (18 September 2018) at 4; available online from U of M Libraries.
    • . . . "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."
    • Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" (binder #4), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
  9. 1970: "Minnesota Statutes Annotated", West Publishing Co.
    • 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.]
  10. Title of decision, as posted by the court.
  11. Gale Langer Karwoski, "The Wedding Heard 'Round The World", University of Minnesota Press (2016)
  12. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 5a-e and 8c), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M 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.
  13. Eskridge, William N., Jr.; Riano, Christopher R. (2020). "Coming Out of the Constitutional Closet". Marriage Equality From Outlaws to In-Laws. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-25574-4.
  14. Bloomquist, Madison (December 18, 2015). "A pioneering couple". Southwest Journal.
  15. Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality" (2004), page 2. available online from U of M Libraries.
    • At a party, in a barn, on farmland, near Norman (31 October 1966).
  16. Salam, Maya (2019-06-04). "50 Years Later, What We Forgot About Stonewall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  17. York, Mailing Address: 26 Wall Street Federal Hall National Monument c/o Stonewall National Monument New; Us, NY 10005 Phone: 212-668-2577 Contact. "Stonewall National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  18. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" (Binder #7), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
    • 29 February 2012: Egil Jonsson posted his copy of Jim Chalgren's 'Gay Pride' photo on his Facebook page, and
      • re-posted on 24 June 2019. "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."
    • Though some credit New York as "the cradle of the modern LGBT rights movement", riots there 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.
  19. Bulletin No. 5, New Courses.
    • final entry: K.A. Phelps, "The Homosexual Revolution", MINNESOTA FREE UNIVERSITY (18 May 1969).
      • offices: "529 Cedar Avenue", near the U of M's expanding campus on the West Bank of the Mississippi, in the Cedar Riverside Neighborhood of Minneapolis.
  20. 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".
  21. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volumes 6a-b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M 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
  22. 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
  23. Lily Hansen, GAY, "F.R.E.E. At Last" (11 May 1970), 13.
    • See also, the Introduction: Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality" (2004). available online from U of M Libraries.
  24. For Release, "Minnesota Hosts First Legally Sanctioned Same-Sex Marriage", Minnesota Student Association (7 September 1971)
    • See also; For immediate release, FREE (17 May 1970)
  25. Wayne R. Dynes, "Homosexuality and Government, Politics and Prisons" (1992), 248; available online, accessed February 7, 2012
  26. News from, Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (1 November 1969).
  27. Merged later with the Columbia Queer Alliance.
  28. Schumach, Murray (May 3, 1967). "Columbia Charters Homosexual Group" (PDF). New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  29. Anon., "Three big companies say they hire Gays", The Advocate (30 September 1970).
  30. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 1a - d), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
    • Letter to FREE from Vice President Gerry E. Morse, Honeywell Inc. (29 June 1970):
      • "We would not employ a known homosexual."
  31. Lars Bjornson, "A quiet win: Honeywell yields", The Advocate (10 April 1974), 13.
  32. Bill Huntzicker, "Dinkytown: Four Blocks of History", History Press (2016), page 161:
    • "Mama D joined a collection of patriotic icons in this campaign poster for Jack Baker, the first openly gay student body president at the University of Minnesota."
      • (caption) "Jack Baker Comes Out - for Things That Count!"
  33. Kay Tobin and Randy Wicker, "The Gay Crusaders", Paperback Library, New York (1972), 136.
  34. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volume 6a), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
    • Anon., "Jack Baker", Minnesota Daily (9 March 1971), page 2:
      • Student dignity is "a state of mind that forces students to realize their own self-worth and to search out a new self respect," Baker said in a recent policy statement.
  35. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 6a - b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
    • Endorsement: "Baker for MSA president", Minnesota Daily, (5 April 1971), page 4:
      • "He has spoken truth to power because he knows the power of truth."
    • Steve Brandt, "Baker wins in record vote," Minnesota Daily (8 April 1971), 1:
      • "A total of 6,024 ballots cast topped the previous record of 5,049 in the 1958 election."
    • Gary Dawson, "Homosexual Credits U Election Victory to a New Sophistication", St. Paul Dispatch (8 April 1971), 35.
  36. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 6a - b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
    • Vic Stoner, "Baker, Schwartz win MSA election", Minnesota Daily (7 April 1972), 1:
      • It was "the first time in the 121-year history of the U of M that a student body president has been re-elected."
    • Anon., "Law senior elected U. student president", Associated Press:
      • re-printed in Austin Daily Herald (7 April 1972), p. ?.
  37. Student Representatives to the Board of Regents available online
  38. 2021 Minnesota Statutes. Chapter 137 Section 137.023:
    • UNIVERSITY STUDENT ON BOARD OF REGENTS; available online
      • source: chapter 120, section 1; approved 2 April 1976.
    • "In electing members of the Board of Regents pursuant to article 13, section 3, of the Constitution of the state of Minnesota, and Territorial Laws 1851, chapter 3, section 5, one member of the Board of Regents of the university shall be a person who at the time of election to the board is a student who is enrolled in a degree program at the university. This person shall represent the state at large. Upon expiration of the term or in the event of a vacancy in the office, one position shall be filled by a person having the same qualifications."
  39. Scott Paulsen, "Twin Cities Gay and Lesbian Community Oral History Project", Minnesota Historical Society : "Interview with Koreen Phelps (1993-11-05)". Retrieved from Collections Online (2019-06-05 ).
  40. Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volume 8b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries, Minneapolis.
    • Success: 1 June 2018 (Star Tribune, A1).
      • "The wrenching bankruptcy that forced a reckoning on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for decades of clergy sexual abuse has culminated in a $210 million settlement for roughly 450 victims, the largest of its kind nationwide."
  41. Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality" (2004), p. 38. available online from U of M Libraries, Minneapolis
  42. Letter mailed to Jack Baker et al. from president Malcolm Moos, University of Minnesota (11 February 1971):
    • "I appreciate your willingness to serve on the Campus Committee on Placement Services."
    • also: Gary Urban, "Complaint charges Honeywell discrimination", Minnesota Daily (12 March 1973), 8
  43. Memoir of Michael McConnell, as told to Gail Langer Karwoski, "The Wedding Heard 'Round the World: America's First Gay Marriage," University of Minnesota Press (2016)
    • Also: paperback release "with a new epilogue" (2020)
  44. Source: "Human Relations", University Media Resources
    • Sponsored by Dave Moore, then a popular announcer on WCCO-TV
    • Brandon Wolf posts on YouTube the FREE member's course work, including words to his parents
  45. Jack Baker, as told to Helen Barrett, "We had America's first gay marriage - in 1971", Financial Times Magazine (7 August 2015); available online
  46. Appellant's Jurisdictional Statement, Minnesota Supreme Court docket no. 71-1027, at 3 - 4
  47. David von Drehle, "Gay Marriage Already Won", TIME (8 April 2013), 22
  48. Gerald R. Nelson (18 May 1970). Fourth Judicial District includes Hennepin County.
  49. Associated Press, "Marriage Is Out", Kansas City Star (24 May 1970), 30A
    • and: "Gay Marriage Plea Is Denied", St. Paul Pioneer Press (19 November 1970), 27
    • also: "Court Won't Let Men Wed", N.Y. Times (10 Jan. 1971), 65
  50. OPINION written by Justice C. Donald Peterson, 191 N.W.2d 185 at 186 (15 Oct 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".
  51. Issued in Mankato by the Clerk of District Court. Fifth Judicial District includes Blue Earth County.
    • "Daily Record", Mankato Free Press (16 August 1971), p. ?
  52. Letter from Norman Dorsen, General Counsel for ACLU, 1970
    • published by Jason Smith, "Gay Pride Block Party Case", Friends of the Bill of Rights Foundation (January 2012), page 52; available online from UofM Libraries
  53. Professor Thomas Kraemer [Oregon State University], "Jack Baker deserves mainstream press coverage after gay marriage ruling", Tom's OSU (7 July 2012); available online
  54. Jack Star, "The Homosexual Couple," LOOK (26 January 1971), 69 - 71
    • also, Michael Durham, "Homosexuals in revolt", LIFE (31 December 1971), 68
    • Sources: Michael McConnell Files (Gift #6), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries
  55. Condon, Patrick (December 10, 2012). "Minn. gay couple in '71 marriage case still joined". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  56. Sasha Aslanian, "Video: Gay rights pioneers Jack Baker and Michael McConnell predicted marriage victory in '70s", MPRnews (16 May 2013); available online from Minnesota Public Radio
  57. Bob Protzman, "Gay Marriage OK Predicted", St. Paul Pioneer Press (22 October 1971), p ?
  58. Jack Baker, "The right to be human and gay", Manitoban (13 March 1972); as reprinted by Ken Bronson in "A Quest for Full Equality" (2004), 69; available online from U of M Libraries
  59. Letter from Rich North to Jack [Baker] & Mike [McConnell] (20 September 2004); available online
  60. Mia Rabson, "Couple helped make history", Winnipeg Free Press (17 September 2004), A4
  61. Michael K. Lavers, "NAACP president: Marriage is civil rights issue of our times" Washington Blade (21 May 2012); available online
  62. Baker to Patrick Condon, "Gay couple in 1971 marriage ruling reflect on new court challenges", Associated Press
    • Reprinted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (11 December 2012), 3A+
  63. Pat Kessler, "A Rare Glimpse At Minn.'s 1st Gay Wedding In 1971" (31 July 2013); available online by WCCO [CBS, Minnesota].
    • "What is believed to be the first same-sex marriage in the United States was performed in Minnesota."
    • See also: Naomi Pescovitz, "Pastor Reflects Back on Minn. Gay Marriage", KSTP-TV [Minneapolis, MN] (16 May 2013); available online on YouTube
    • and: Associated Press, "They're Mr. and Mr.", San Francisco Chronicle (8 September 1971), 3
  64. Eckholm, Eric (May 16, 2015). "The Same-Sex Couple Who Got a Marriage License in 1971". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  65. 409 U.S. 810, 93 S.Ct. 37, 34 L.Ed.2d 65 (1972)
  66. Greenhouse, Linda (March 20, 2013). "Wedding Bells". New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  67. Jess Bravin, "Supreme Court Clerk Remembers First Same-Sex Marriage Case", The Wall Street Journal (1 May 2015); available online
  68. Anon., "Homosexual Couple Contest I.R.S. Ban On a Joint Return", The New York Times (5 Jan. 1975), 55
  69. Anon., "Form 1040 Instructions", Internal Revenue Service (2005), 19; available online
  70. McConnell v. Nooner:
    • District Court, No. 4-75-Civ. 566 (D. Minn. 20 April 1976)
    • and: United States Court of Appeals, 547 F.2d 54 (8th Cir. 1976)
  71. Fourth Judicial District, Juvenile Division, File No. AD-19962;
    • FINDINGS AND DECREE by Judge Lindsay G. Arthur (3 August 1971) changed Baker's legal name to Pat Lyn McConnell; and MEMORANDUM (attached):
    • But "regardless of popular conception, adoption is not limited to children" . . .
    • See also; Anon., "U student head adopted by homosexual friend", Minneapolis Tribune (25 August 1971), 1A;
    • and; Associated Press, "Male's adoption by roommate OKd", Rocky Mountain News, Denver (26 August 1971), 85.
    • Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" [Binder #3], Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries
  72. Video by Logan Chelmo (2021-06-06). Available online courtesy U of M Libraries.
  73. Claire Bowes, "Jack Baker and Michael McConnell: Gay Americans who married in 1971", BBC News Magazine (3 July 2013); available online.
    • "Pastor Roger Lynn holds up Baker and McConnell's marriage certificate" from the ceremony he conducted in Minneapolis.
  74. Anon., "Homosexual Wins Fight to Take Bar Examination in Minnesota", New York Times (7 January 1973), 55.
    • "Thus the marriage remained in effect."
  75. Bureau of National Affairs, "Gay married couple frustrated in adoption bid", The Family Law Reporter (10 December 1974), page 2103
    • The "federal constitution prohibition against ex post facto laws . . . forbids the imposition of punishment for past conduct lawful at the time it was engaged".
  76. Anon., "Hidden Treasures from the Stacks: pushing for equality", The National Archives at Kansas City (September 2013), 7; available online
  77. Professor Thomas Kraemer [Oregon State University], "Gay marriage discussion in 1953 vs. 1963 and today", Tom's OSU, posted 16 December 2013; available online
  78. Eskridge Jr., William N.; Riano, Christopher R. (2020). "Postscript". Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws. Yale University Press. p. 752.
  79. Letter mailed to Michael McConnell; from Ralph H. Hopp, University Librarian, U of M; 27 April 1970
    • Sources: McConnell Files, “Full Equality, a diary", volumes 5a-e (The McConnell case), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries
  80. Letter delivered to Michael McConnell; from James F. Hogg, Secretary, Board of Regents, University of Minnesota; 10 July 1970.
    • The following recommendation of its Executive Committee is approved: "That the appointment of Mr. J. M. McConnell to the position of the Head of the Cataloging Division of the St. Paul Campus Library at the rank of Instructor not be approved on the grounds that his personal conduct, as represented in the public and University news media, is not consistent with the best interest of the University."
  81. Randy Tigue, "Regent: FREE member case 'matter of public relations', Minnesota Daily, 16 July 1970, page 1.
  82. "McConnell v. Anderson, 316 F.Supp. 809 (D. Minn. 1970)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  83. Bob Lundegaard, "University Ordered to Hire Homosexual", Minneapolis Tribune, 10 September 1970, 23
  84. "McConnell v. Anderson, 41F.2d193 (Oct 18, 1971)". OpenJurist. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  85. Anon., "Homosexual Wins a Suit over Hiring", New York Times, 20 September 1970; available online, accessed February 7, 2012
  86. Michelle Andrea Wolf and Alfred P. Kielwasser, eds., "Gay People, Sex, and the Media", Haworth Press (1991), 237; available online, accessed February 7, 2012
  87. "Do you think the University was justified in firing McConnell because of his open declaration of homosexuality?"
    • yes = 10%, no = 81%, no opinion = 8%, other = 1%
    • Source: Office of Student Affairs, "Research Bulletin", U of M, Winter 1972
  88. Agenda item 7A, "Commendation of Michael McConnell", Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, 30 November 2010; available online.
  89. "News", University News Service, 22 June 2012
    • "U of M President Eric Kaler has called McConnell's treatment reprehensible, regrets that it occurred and says that the university's actions at that time were not consistent with the practices enforced today at the university."
    • Sources: McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage", Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
  90. Eric W Kaler - Office of the President <upres@umn.edu> to Logan Chelmo [Shakopee High School (class of 2018)], 25 June 2018
    • "The dictionary defines 'reprehensible' as 'deserving of rebuke or censure.' And the action taken by our Board in 1970 to rescind Michael McConnell's job offer simply because of who he loved –- and not because of his qualifications as a librarian –- is today worthy of deep criticism . . . of rebuke and censure."
  91. Letter from Michael McConnell; addressed to university president Eric Kaler, 25 July 2012
  92. Letter from Robert Burgett, Senior Vice President, University of Minnesota Foundation; addressed to Michael McConnell, 17 February 2020.
  93. Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality" (2002), page 32. Available online from U of M Libraries.
    • Sources: Michael McConnell Files, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
  94. For Release Any Time, "Gay Machine Startles DFL Regulars", DFL Gay Rights Caucus, 9 June 1972.
  95. Resolution 71.d, "The 1972 DFL Platform", Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor State Central Committee, 9–11 June 1972 at Rochester, MN.
  96. "McConnell v. United States, January 3, 2005" (PDF). US District Court for Minnesota. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  97. "McConnell v. United States, July 17, 2006" (PDF). 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  98. Parloff, Roger (January 18, 2015). "12 key moments that led to the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage case". Fortune.
  99. Lori Swanson, Attorney General, State of Minnesota; "Brief of the State of Minnesota as AMICUS CURIAE in support of petitioners", Obergefell v. Hodges; In The Supreme Court of the United States, March 2015, 18; available online
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