# A gay couple was legally married in Minnesota in 1971

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gay-couple-was-legally-married-in-minnesota-in-1971/662467>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 2, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gay-couple-was-legally-married-in-minnesota-in-1971/662467 "2013-07-02T18:19:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gay-couple-was-legally-married-in-minnesota-in-1971/662467/1 "2013-07-02T18:19:52Z")

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Just heard a very interesting story on the BBC History Hour podcast. A gay couple living in Minnesota in 1971 applied several times to get a marriage license, had it rejected, took it to the state supreme court, and lost.

So one of them legally changed his name to the gender-neutral “Pat”, they applied for a marriage license, it was granted, they got married, and have been more-or-less legally married ever since. The county attorney convened a grand jury to nullify their license, but the grand jury refused to do so.

[Wikipedia story here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Baker_(activist))  
Interesting that this hasn’t gotten more publicity and discussion of late…

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**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gay-couple-was-legally-married-in-minnesota-in-1971/662467/2 "2013-07-02T19:21:55Z")

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Be interesting to find out if they have to get re-married, or if the IRS will recognize their existing marriage license now that DOMA’s gone.