Case: 10-16696 10/25/2010 Page: 1 of 35 ID: 7521867 DktEntry: 176

No. 10-16696

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

KRISTIN M. PERRY, et al.,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, et al.,
Defendants,
and
DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH, et al.,
Defendants-Intervenors-Appellants.

On Appeal From The United States District Court

For The Northern District Of California
No. CV-09-02292 VRW
The Honorable Vaughn R. Walker

BRIEF OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS-APPELLEES
AND IN SUPPORT OF AFFIRMANCE

MARTHA COAKLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Maura T. Healey
Jonathan B. Miller
Christopher K. Barry-Smith
Assistant Attorneys General
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: (617) 727-2200
Fax: (617) 727-5762

Counsel for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTEREST OF THE AMICUS ....................................................................... 1

ARGUMENT .................................................................................................. 2

I. ALLOWING SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY HAS HAD A

POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE IN
MASSACHUSETTS. ........................................................................... 4

A. Allowing Same-Sex Couples To Marry Has Had No Impact On

Marriage Or Divorce Rates In Massachusetts................................. 6

1. Massachusetts‟ Marriage Rate Increased When Same-Sex

Couples Began Marrying And Has Remained High. .................. 6

2. Massachusetts‟ Divorce Rate Remains The Lowest Of Any State

In The Country. ........................................................................... 7

3. Excluding Same-Sex Couples From Marriage Has Not Improved

Marriage Or Divorce Rates. ........................................................ 8

B. Allowing Same-Sex Couples To Marry Has Had No Impact On

Nonmarital Births In Massachusetts. .............................................. 9

II. MARRIAGE HAS MAINTAINED A PLACE OF HIGH REGARD

IN MASSACHUSETTS. .................................................................... 11

III. MASSACHUSETTS‟ INTERESTS IN MARRIAGE ARE

FURTHERED BY EXTENDING MARRIAGE TO MORE
COMMITTED COUPLES AND BEAR NO RELATIONSHIP TO
THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION OF THE SPOUSES. ..................... 14

A. Marriage Provides Numerous Legally-Recognized Protections To

Same-Sex Couples......................................................................... 15

B. Marriage Benefits The Children Of Same-Sex Couples. .............. 16

C. Marriage Creates A Private Safety Net. ........................................ 18

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D. Marriage Promotes Household Stability And The Efficient

Allocation Of Household Resources. ............................................ 18

IV. ALLOWING SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY ADVANCES

MASSACHUSETTS‟ GOALS OF ERADICATING
DISCRIMINATION AND PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH AND
WELFARE. ........................................................................................ 19

A. The Goodridge Decision Is One Of Several Steps That

Massachusetts Has Taken To Eradicate Discrimination Against
Gays And Lesbians........................................................................ 19

1. Massachusetts Has Taken Steps To Address Discrimination

Against Gays And Lesbians. ..................................................... 20

2. Extending Equal Marriage Rights Has Been A Continuation Of

Massachusetts‟ Efforts To Address Discrimination. ................. 21

B. Extending Legal Protections To Gays And Lesbians Furthers

Massachusetts‟ Interest In Promoting The Public Health Of Its
Residents. ...................................................................................... 23

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 25

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Cases

Adoption of Susan, 619 N.E.2d 323 (Mass. 1993) ....................................... 21

Adoption of Tammy, 619 N.Ed.2d 315 (Mass. 1993) ................................... 21

Alfred L. Snapp & Son., Inc. v. Puerto Rico, 458 U.S. 592 (1982) .............. 23

Baker v. State, 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999) ...................................................... 16

Bezio v. Patenaude, 410 N.E.2d 1207 (Mass. 1980) .................................... 20

Bradford v. City of Worcester, 69 N.E. 310 (Mass. 1904) ........................... 12

Doe v. Doe, 452 N.E.2d 293 (Mass. App. Ct. 1983) .................................... 20

Gill v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 699 F. Supp. 2d 374 (D. Mass. 2010) ........... 22

Goodridge v. Dep't of Pub. Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003) ...... passim

Hernandez v. Robles, 855 N.E.2d 1 (N.Y. 2006) ......................................... 16

Lewis v. Harris, 908 A.2d 196 (N.J. 2006) .................................................. 16

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) .......................................................... 12

Massachusetts v. U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Servs., 698 F. Supp. 2d

234 (D. Mass. 2010) .................................................................................. 22

Opinions of the Justices to the Senate, 802 N.E.2d 565 (Mass. 2004)......... 22

United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996) .............................................. 3

Statutes

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 62C, § 6 ...................................................................... 15

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Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, § 370 ..................................................................... 21

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 76, § 5 ......................................................................... 21

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 118E, § 61 .................................................................. 22

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 178A ................................................................ 15

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 178C ................................................................ 16

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B ........................................................................... 20

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 108 ................................................................... 15

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 110G ................................................................ 15

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 184, §7 ........................................................................ 15

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, §§ 1, 2 ................................................................. 16

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 39 ..................................................................... 21

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, §§ 34, 35 ............................................................. 20

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, §§ 92A, 98 .......................................................... 21

Other Authorities

Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics, 1997 Annual Report,

http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dph/bvs/ PDFs/1997/annual_report/
marrdiv.pdf .................................................................................................. 9

Andrew J. Cherlin, American Marriage in the Early Twenty-First Century,

Future Child., Fall 2005 ............................................................................ 13

Betzaida Tejada-Vera & Paul D. Sutton, National Center for Health

Statistics, Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths: Provisional Data for
2009 (2010), available at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_25.pdf ............... passim

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Brief and Appendix on Behalf of Appellee, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1

(1967) (No. 395), 1967 WL 113931 ........................................................... 5

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vital Statistics

System, Birth Data Files,
http://205.207.175.93/VitalStats/ReportFolders/ReportFolders.aspx ....... 10

Christopher Ramos et al., The Williams Institute, The Effects of Marriage

Equality in Massachusetts: A Survey of the Experiences and Impact of
Marriage on Same-Sex Couples (2009), available at
http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/
Effects_FINAL.pdf.............................................................................. 11, 17

Mark L. Hatzenbuehler et al., State-Level Policies and Psychiatric Morbidity

in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations, Am. J. Pub. Health, December
2009 ........................................................................................................... 24

Mark L. Hatzenbuehler et al., The Impact of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on

Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Sexual Minority Men: A
Quasi-Natural Experiment (2010) (under review, on file with author) .... 24

Marriage Equality Works for Massachusetts, 5th Anniversary Voter Survey

(2009), available at
http://www.massequality.org/sites/default/files/marriage-equality-works-
survey-report.pdf ....................................................................................... 14

Nate Silver, Divorce Rates Higher in States with Gay Marriage Bans, N.Y.
Times FiveThirtyEight Blog, Jan. 12, 2010,
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/01/divorce-rates-appear-higher-in-
states.html ................................................................................................ 8, 9

National Center for Health Statistics, Summary Report Final Divorce

Statistics, 1970 (1974) ............................................................................... 12

Note, Litigating the Defense of Marriage Act: The Next Battleground for
Same-Sex Marriage, 117 Harv. L. Rev. 2684 (2004) ............................... 16

Oklahoma State Department of Health, Marriage and Divorce Statistics:

1990-2007, http://www.ok.gov/health/documents/
HCI_Marriage%20and%20Divorce_1990_2007.pdf.................................. 9
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Stephanie J. Ventura, National Center for Health Statistics, Changing

Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States (2009),
available at www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.pdf ........................ 10

U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Estimates of the Population for the United
States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009
(2009), http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html .... 6, 7, 8, 9

U.S. Census Bureau, Table MS-2, Estimated Median Age at First Marriage,
by Sex: 1890 to the Present (2009), available at
http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/ms2.xls .................. 12

William N. Eskridge, Jr., Challenging the Apartheid of the Closet:

Establishing Conditions for Lesbian and Gay Intimacy, Nomos, and
Citizenship, 1961-1981, 25 Hofstra L. Rev. 817 (1997) ........................... 20

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INTEREST OF THE AMICUS

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (“Massachusetts”) files this

amicus brief in support of Plaintiffs-Appellees Kristin M. Perry, et al. as a

matter of right pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 29(a).

Massachusetts was the first state to extend equal marriage rights to

same-sex couples and has been licensing those marriages for more than six

years. As a state that has experienced firsthand the myriad benefits of

marriage for same-sex couples, Massachusetts has an interest in correcting

several inaccuracies and misconceptions that Defendants-Intervenors and

their amici have introduced.

1
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ARGUMENT

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legally

permit same-sex couples to marry. Over the past six years, more than

16,000 same-sex couples have wed here, and Massachusetts is a stronger

state because of it. The state‟s interests in promoting marriage—to provide

stability and security in families, efficient allocation of household resources,

clear definition of legal relationships, and supportive environments for

raising children—have been furthered by extending marriage to more

couples willing to assume its obligations, including couples of the same sex.

Contrary to the assertions of Defendants-Intervenors and their amici, the

interests of Massachusetts have been strengthened, not undermined, by

allowing same-sex couples to marry.

The residents of Massachusetts—and the institution of marriage

within this state—have benefitted from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial

Court‟s holding in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d

941 (Mass. 2003), that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to

marry. Since same-sex couples began marrying here in 2004,

Massachusetts‟ marriage rate has remained stable, its divorce rate has

declined, and its nonmarital birth rate has remained well below the national

average. Marriage equality has also led to greater acceptance of gays,

2
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lesbians, and their children, increased stability for gay and lesbian families,

and improved public health outcomes.

More fundamentally, permitting same-sex couples to marry in

Massachusetts has been an important step toward eradicating discrimination

against gays and lesbians. As the Supreme Judicial Court explained in

Goodridge, “[t]he history of constitutional law „is the story of the extension

of constitutional rights and protections to people once ignored or excluded.‟

. . . This statement is as true in the area of civil marriage as in any other area

of civil rights.” 798 N.E.2d at 966 (quoting United States v. Virginia, 518

U.S. 515, 557 (1996)). Today, that story includes the extension of equal

marriage rights to same-sex couples. The Massachusetts experience wholly

contradicts the speculations of Defendants-Intervenors and their amici that

marriage equality will have negative repercussions. Despite the fears of

some,1 history has proven that marriage in the United States is a strong and

adaptable institution. And in Massachusetts, where same-sex couples have

been marrying for more than six years, the institution of marriage remains as

vibrant as ever.

1
See, e.g., Tr. 237:12-239:4, 245:19-23 (Cott) (describing the alarms
sounded over the legalization of interracial marriage and over the expansion
of the rights of married women).
3
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I. ALLOWING SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY HAS HAD A

POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE
IN MASSACHUSETTS.

Extending marriage to same-sex couples has benefitted

Massachusetts by conferring legal rights and protections to those couples

and, thereby, providing their families with greater stability and security.

Contrary to the dire predictions of Defendants-Intervenors, gay and lesbian

spouses have not eroded the institution of marriage in Massachusetts.

Defendants-Intervenors suggest that permitting same-sex couples to

marry will have several negative consequences.2 Relying primarily on the

opinions of David Blankenhorn,3 they argue that marriage equality will

likely “contribute over time to a further social devaluation of marriage, as

2
David Blankenhorn refers to these negative consequences as part of the
“deinstitutionalization” of marriage. See, e.g., ER 337-41. Blankenhorn has
borrowed that term from Johns Hopkins University Professor Andrew
Cherlin, a proponent of marriage equality. Tr. 2777:22-2778:10
(Blankenhorn). Yet Blankenhorn has mischaracterized Professor Cherlin‟s
work, as the District Court noted. ER 81. While Blankenhorn defines
deinstitutionalization as occurring when “an institution weakens” or
“becomes frailer,” ER 338, Professor Cherlin actually describes
deinstitutionalization as “a weakening of the social norms that define
partners’ behavior,” ER 408 (emphasis added). Professor Cherlin makes
clear that the “deinstitutionalization” of marriage began in the 1970s, ER
409, is not a consequence of same-sex couples marrying, ER 410-11, and is
not necessarily a negative trend, ER 408.
3
The District Court found that Blankenhorn‟s testimony constituted
“inadmissible opinion testimony that should be given essentially no weight.”
ER 74.

4
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expressed primarily in lower marriage rates, higher rates of divorce and

nonmarital cohabitation, and more children raised outside of marriage and

separated from at least one of their natural parents.”4 Appellants‟ Br. 100.

None of these predictions has proved to be correct in Massachusetts.

Six years of data show that the negative consequences of marriage

equality about which Blankenhorn speculates have simply not occurred in

Massachusetts.5 When marriages between same-sex couples began here in

2004, Massachusetts‟ marriage rate immediately increased, and it has

remained at or above the rate it was the year before same-sex couples could

marry. Massachusetts‟ divorce rate has remained the lowest of any state in

the country, and its nonmarital birth rate has remained well below the

national average.

4
The Commonwealth of Virginia made similar arguments in its brief to the
U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia. See Brief and Appendix on
Behalf of Appellee at *47-48, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) (No.
395), 1967 WL 113931. Among other things, Virginia referenced “the
higher rate of divorce among the intermarried” and a concern for the well-
being of children “who become the victims of their intermarried parents” to
justify its anti-miscegenation law. Id. (internal quotations omitted); see also
Tr. 237:12-239:4 (Cott) (noting that proponents of anti-miscegenation laws
argued that the institution of marriage would suffer as a result of interracial
marriage).
5
Massachusetts does not agree that the statistical categories on which
Defendants-Intervenors rely are relevant methods of measuring the strength
of marriage in a state. See infra Part II.

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A. Allowing Same-Sex Couples To Marry Has Had No Impact

On Marriage Or Divorce Rates In Massachusetts.

1. Massachusetts’ Marriage Rate Increased When

Same-Sex Couples Began Marrying And Has
Remained High.

The extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples in

Massachusetts was accompanied by an immediate increase in the state‟s

marriage rate, and that rate has remained high in the years since. In 2004,

when same-sex couples began marrying, Massachusetts‟ marriage rate

(measured in number of marriages per thousand residents) rose by

approximately 15% (from 5.6 to 6.5). ER 1415. For the three following

years (2005 to 2007), the average annual marriage rate (6.0) was higher than

the average rate for the three years preceding the extension of marriage

rights to same-sex couples (5.9). Id. Massachusetts‟ marriage rates for 2008

and 2009 were the same as the rate for 2003, the year before same-sex

couples could marry. Betzaida Tejada-Vera & Paul D. Sutton, National

Center for Health Statistics, Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths:

Provisional Data for 2009, at 5 (2010), available at

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_25.pdf; U.S. Census

Bureau, Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions,

States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009 (2009),

6
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http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html.6 Massachusetts‟

marriage rate has also fared well when compared with national trends.

Massachusetts‟ rate increased relative to the national marriage rate between

2003 and 2009. See Tejada-Vera & Sutton, supra, at 5; Census Bureau

Population Estimates, supra; ER 1415; ER 1412.

2. Massachusetts’ Divorce Rate Remains The Lowest Of

Any State In The Country.

The Massachusetts experience also directly contradicts Defendants-

Intervenors‟ suggestion that allowing same-sex couples to marry leads to

increased rates of divorce. The divorce rate in Massachusetts has been

declining for twenty years, and that decline has only continued since same-

sex couples began marrying. ER 1363; Tejada-Vera & Sutton, supra, at 5;

Census Bureau Population Estimates, supra. Defendants-Intervenors

mischaracterize the data when they claim that the Massachusetts divorce rate

increased from 2004 to 2007. Appellants‟ Br. 101. Although the

Massachusetts divorce rate increased by 0.1 in 2006, it consistently has

remained lower than it was before same-sex couples were permitted to

6
Marriage rates for 2008 and 2009 were calculated by multiplying each
year‟s number of marriages by 1000, then dividing by that year‟s population,
as listed in the Census Bureau population estimate table.
7
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marry.7 ER 1363. Massachusetts has had the lowest divorce rate of any

state since at least 1990, a trend that continued after marriage for same-sex

couples became possible.8 See ER 1363; Tejada-Vera & Sutton, supra, at 5;

Census Bureau Population Estimates, supra.

3. Excluding Same-Sex Couples From Marriage Has Not

Improved Marriage Or Divorce Rates.

To the extent that Defendants-Intervenors suggest that excluding

same-sex couples from the institution of marriage will positively impact

marriage and divorce rates, current data do not support that claim. While

divorce rates declined in many states between 2003 and 2008, that decline

was largely confined to states that had not passed a constitutional ban on

same-sex marriage. Nate Silver, Divorce Rates Higher in States with Gay

Marriage Bans, N.Y. Times FiveThirtyEight Blog, Jan. 12, 2010,

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/01/divorce-rates-appear-higher-in-

states.html. Divorce rates increased by 0.9% in states with constitutional

7
The Massachusetts divorce/annulment rate was 2.5 in 2003, 2.2 in 2004,
2.2 in 2005, 2.3 in 2006, and 2.3 in 2007. ER 1363. The most recent data
indicate that the rate fell to 2.0 in 2008 and 1.9 in 2009. Tejada-Vera &
Sutton, supra, at 5; Census Bureau Population Estimates, supra. Divorce
rates for 2008 and 2009 were calculated by multiplying each year‟s number
of divorces by 1000, then dividing by that year‟s population, as listed in the
Census Bureau population estimate table.
8
From 2002 to 2007, only the District of Columbia had a lower divorce rate
than Massachusetts. ER 1363.

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bans during that five-year period, while states without bans witnessed an

8.0% decrease in their divorce rates. Id. Similarly, by 2009, twenty-seven

of the twenty-nine states with constitutional bans had seen their marriage

rates decrease since the year preceding the ban. See ER 1415; Tejada-Vera

& Sutton, supra, at 5; Census Bureau Population Estimates, supra; Alaska

Bureau of Vital Statistics, 1997 Annual Report, at 77,

http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dph/bvs/PDFs/1997/annual_report/marrdiv.pdf;

Oklahoma State Department of Health, Marriage and Divorce Statistics:

1990-2007, at 3, http://www.ok.gov/health/documents/

HCI_Marriage%20and%20Divorce_1990_2007.pdf.

B. Allowing Same-Sex Couples To Marry Has Had No Impact

On Nonmarital Births In Massachusetts.

Defendants-Intervenors have also relied on Blankenhorn for the

opinion that allowing same-sex couples to marry will lead to an increase in

nonmarital births. See Appellants‟ Br. 100; ER 339-40, 342 (Blankenhorn).

Once again, Blankenhorn‟s speculation is unsupported by the facts.

Massachusetts‟ nonmarital birth rate has been well below the national

average for years, and that did not change after same-sex couples began to

marry.

The nonmarital birth rate increased nationally from 1940 through at

least 2007, the most recent year for which nonmarital birth data are
9
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available. Stephanie J. Ventura, National Center for Health Statistics,

Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States 1

(2009), available at www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.pdf. Since at

least 1993, Massachusetts‟ nonmarital birth rate has been consistently and

significantly below the national rate—a trend that persisted after same-sex

couples began to marry.9 See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

National Vital Statistics System, Birth Data Files, http://205.207.175.93/

VitalStats/ReportFolders/ReportFolders.aspx.10

More fundamentally, Blankenhorn‟s position is illogical. Extending

marriage to same-sex couples results in more children being raised by

married parents. That is true simply because many same-sex couples are

raising children together and because many of those couples are getting

married. By 2008, approximately 64% of same-sex couples residing in the

same household in Massachusetts were married. Tr. 1397:19-23 (Badgett).

9
Nationally, nonmarital births climbed from 31.0% of total births in 1993 to
39.7% in 2007. For the same years, the Massachusetts percentage climbed
from 26.4% to 33.4%. See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Vital Statistics System, Birth Data Files, http://205.207.175.93/
VitalStats/ReportFolders/ReportFolders.aspx, and see infra note 10.
10
Follow “Births” hyperlink, then “Tables” hyperlink, then hyperlink for the
year needed, then “Demographic Characteristics of Mother by State/County”
hyperlink; then drag the “Marital Status - Total” box into the box labeled
“Race;” then use the raw number of total births and of nonmarital births to
calculate the percentage of nonmarital births for each state and year.

10
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By 2009, 28% of same-sex couples in Massachusetts were raising at least

one child. Christopher Ramos et al., The Williams Institute, The Effects of

Marriage Equality in Massachusetts: A Survey of the Experiences and

Impact of Marriage on Same-Sex Couples 1 (2009), available at

http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/Effects_FINAL.pdf.

II. MARRIAGE HAS MAINTAINED A PLACE OF HIGH

REGARD IN MASSACHUSETTS.

When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made marriage

equality the law, it did so out of a recognition that the institution of marriage

has evolved over time and must continue to do so. Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d

at 966-67 (“As a public institution and a right of fundamental importance,

civil marriage is an evolving paradigm.”). As the Court noted, marriage has

survived a variety of transformations, including expansions to provide

greater rights for married women and to embrace interracial couples. Id. at

967. It is because of this ability to evolve that marriage remains a “vibrant

and revered institution” in Massachusetts and throughout the United States

today.11 Id.

11
At trial, Harvard University Professor Nancy Cott testified that marriage is
“alive and vigorous” in the United States today in large part because it is a
flexible—not a static—institution. Tr. 331:7-17. Professor Cott compared
the institution of marriage with the U.S. Constitution, noting that both have
certain “essentials that remain the same over time” but have also had to be
“altered to adjust to changing circumstances” in order to remain relevant.
11
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Contrary to the suggestions of Defendants-Intervenors and their amici,

marriage is not in a state of crisis. See, e.g., Appellants‟ Br. 96-97; Amici

States‟ Br. 15-16. The divorce rate has been declining nationwide for the

past quarter century and, in 2009, reached its lowest level since 1970. See

National Center for Health Statistics, Summary Report Final Divorce

Statistics, 1970, at 2 (1974); Tejada-Vera & Sutton, supra, at 1.

Furthermore, the symbolic importance of marriage remains very high for

most Americans. ER 415. Professor Cherlin‟s research reveals that while

marriage was once “the foundation of adult personal life,” it is now

“sometimes the capstone.” Id. Americans are increasingly postponing

marriage until they “are sure they can do it successfully,” for instance,

waiting until they are financially stable or have obtained steady employment.

Id. Indeed, the median age at first marriage in this country is currently 28

for men (as compared with 23 in 1970) and 26 for women (as compared with

21 in 1970). See U.S. Census Bureau, Table MS-2, Estimated Median Age

at First Marriage, by Sex: 1890 to the Present (2009), available at

http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/ms2.xls.

Tr. 331:13-17. Indeed, marriage has embraced equal rights for newly-freed
slaves, SER 103-04 (Cott), for women, see, e.g., Bradford v. City of
Worcester, 69 N.E. 310 (Mass. 1904), and for interracial couples, see Loving
v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).
12
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Despite the fact that couples are waiting longer to get married, regard

for marriage remains higher in the United States than in other developed

countries. Andrew J. Cherlin, American Marriage in the Early Twenty-First

Century, Future Child., Fall 2005, at 44. As Professor Cherlin points out,

one need look no further than the marriage equality debate to know that

marriage is as highly valued by gays and lesbians as it is by heterosexual

couples. Id. at 43. Extending equal marriage rights to same-sex couples, far

from eroding the institution as Blankenhorn suggests, works to reinforce the

importance of marriage by allowing those who believe in its value to be a

part of it. See Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 965 (“That same-sex couples are

willing to embrace marriage‟s solemn obligations of exclusivity, mutual

support, and commitment to one another is a testament to the enduring place

of marriage in our laws and in the human spirit.”); see also Tr. 252:20-23

(Cott) (“[B]y excluding same-sex couples from the ability to marry and

engage in this highly-valued institution, . . . society is actually denying itself

another . . . resource for stability and social order.”).12

In Massachusetts, where marriage has evolved to embrace same-sex

couples, the institution is thriving. A 2009 poll demonstrated that

12
Professor Cott suggested that eliminating restrictions on marriage has
“helped to give it new reverence in recent years,” which has in turn
improved public opinion regarding the value of marriage as an institution.
SER 129.
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Massachusetts residents overwhelmingly believe that extending marriage to

same-sex couples has been good for families and good for society, because it

encourages responsibility, commitment, and family-building. Marriage

Equality Works for Massachusetts, 5th Anniversary Voter Survey 5 (2009),

available at http://www.massequality.org/sites/default/files/marriage-

equality-works-survey-report.pdf. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed

agreed that “it‟s better for Massachusetts that more couples can get married

and raise families.” Id. at 7; see also Tr. 1361:14-17 (Badgett).

III. MASSACHUSETTS’ INTERESTS IN MARRIAGE ARE

FURTHERED BY EXTENDING MARRIAGE TO MORE
COMMITTED COUPLES AND BEAR NO RELATIONSHIP TO
THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION OF THE SPOUSES.

As in California, there are thousands of gay men and lesbians in

Massachusetts who have entered into committed relationships and, in many

instances, are raising children together. Excluding these couples from

marriage is irrational and only undermines the purposes of marriage. As the

District Court noted, marriage implicates numerous state interests, ER 102-

06, none of which depend upon the sexual orientation of the couple.

Extending marriage to same-sex couples has furthered Massachusetts‟

interests in promoting marriage, and the Massachusetts experience belies the

contention of Defendants-Intervenors and their amici that marriage should

be limited to different-sex couples.

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Because of the Supreme Judicial Court‟s decision in Goodridge,

same-sex couples in Massachusetts can avail themselves of the protections

and benefits of marriage, which touch “nearly every aspect of life and death”

for those couples and their families. Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 955.

Marriage equality therefore improves the economic stability and well-being

of families throughout Massachusetts, which is a compelling interest for any

state.

A. Marriage Provides Numerous Legally-Recognized

Protections To Same-Sex Couples.

As a legal matter, there are myriad ways in which marriage affects a

couple. Same-sex married couples in Massachusetts can now file joint state

income tax returns, rather than having to subdivide themselves into two

economic units, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 62C, § 6, and they have increased

protections against creditors upon the death of a spouse, see, e.g., Mass.

Gen. Laws ch. 184, §7. See also Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 955. Same-sex

spouses have the right to make medical decisions for an incompetent spouse,

see Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 956, the right to share their spouse‟s medical

insurance policy, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 108, and the right to have that

health coverage continue for a period after a spouse‟s death, id. § 110G. See

also Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 955-56. Same-sex spouses may collect

wages owed to a deceased spouse, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §§ 178A,
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178C, and have the right to bring claims for wrongful death and loss of

consortium, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 229, §§ 1, 2. See also Goodridge, 798

N.E.2d at 955-56. By extending marriage to same-sex couples,

Massachusetts has granted those couples much greater security and stability

through legally-recognized rights and responsibilities.13

B. Marriage Benefits The Children Of Same-Sex Couples.

The children of same-sex couples have also benefitted from the

extension of equal marriage rights in Massachusetts. As the Supreme

Judicial Court explained in Goodridge, excluding same-sex couples from

marriage can hurt the children those couples are raising. Goodridge, 798

N.E.2d at 963-64 (“[T]he task of child rearing for same-sex couples is made

infinitely harder by their status as outliers to the marriage laws.”); see also

Baker v. State, 744 A.2d 864, 882 (Vt. 1999); Lewis v. Harris, 908 A.2d

196, 216-17 (N.J. 2006); Hernandez v. Robles, 855 N.E.2d 1, 32 (N.Y.

2006) (Kaye, C.J., dissenting).

Marriage improves the lives of the children of same-sex couples in a

number of ways. Most notably, it strengthens the stability of those

13
Prior to 2004, same-sex couples had to find alternative methods of
garnering some of the legal protections that marriage provides. Those
efforts were expensive and time-consuming, and often ineffective and
inadequate. See Note, Litigating the Defense of Marriage Act: The Next
Battleground for Same-Sex Marriage, 117 Harv. L. Rev. 2684, 2706-07
(2004).
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children‟s families through, for instance, enhanced access to medical

insurance, tax benefits, and estate and homestead protections. See

Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 956. Additionally, if a married same-sex couple

divorces, the couple‟s children are protected by the certain application of

rules of child custody, visitation, and support. Id.

The Massachusetts experience with marriage for same-sex couples

reaffirms this prevailing wisdom. A 2009 statewide survey conducted by the

Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that 93% of married gay

and lesbian parents in the state believe their children are happier and better

off as a result of their marriages. Ramos et al., supra, at 1. Married same-

sex parents also reported that their children “felt more secure and protected,”

had “gained a sense of stability,” and saw “their families as being validated

or legitimated by society or the government,” which sometimes increased

those children‟s sense of being connected to their family members. Id. at 9.

Indeed, even Blankenhorn acknowledged that the children of same-sex

couples benefit from the extension of equal marriage rights to their parents.

See SER 291 (“[I]t is almost certainly true that gay and lesbian couples and

their children would benefit by having gay marriage.”).

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C. Marriage Creates A Private Safety Net.

Marriage also ensures that members of the familial unit are not alone

in a time of crisis. The stability and security of marital relationships give

individuals an important safety net and prevent them from having to rely on

the state. ER 102-03. Marriage is “a strong signal of commitment” that

creates an expectation that the two individuals will remain together and

support each other, even as a “family‟s economic fortunes might change.”

See Tr. 1335:1-7, 1333:21-23 (Badgett). Massachusetts‟ interest in the

private forms of support that marriage affords is not reasonably limited to

different-sex couples. See Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 954-58.

D. Marriage Promotes Household Stability And The Efficient

Allocation Of Household Resources.

The interdependency created by marriage‟s rights and protections also

promotes household stability and enables the efficient allocation of

household resources. Married couples can more effectively specialize their

labor and reduce their cost of living. See Tr. 1332:24-1334:17 (Badgett).

Spouses can also invest in one another‟s education and career development,

which has long-term benefits for the couple and for the state of

Massachusetts. Tr. 1333:8-13 (Badgett). Marriage allows a couple to

presume that their relationship will last for the long term and, if it does not,

that the state will ensure an equitable division of marital property, as well as
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potential alimony or child-support payments. Marriage also gives a couple

the security to make decisions about education and labor force participation

knowing that, if one spouse provides the primary economic support, the

other spouse will be protected in the event of divorce or death. Tr. 1134:19-

1135:9 (Badgett). Massachusetts‟ interests in household stability and the

efficient distribution of household resources—like all of the other interests

described above—are furthered by extending marital protections to same-sex

couples. See Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 963-64.

IV. ALLOWING SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY ADVANCES

MASSACHUSETTS’ GOALS OF ERADICATING
DISCRIMINATION AND PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH
AND WELFARE.

Separate and apart from Massachusetts‟ interests in promoting

marriage, extending equal marriage rights advances two paramount state

interests: eliminating inequality and improving public health.

A. The Goodridge Decision Is One Of Several Steps That

Massachusetts Has Taken To Eradicate Discrimination
Against Gays And Lesbians.

The Goodridge decision reflects one of many steps Massachusetts has

taken to end sexual orientation discrimination in this state. Initial efforts

included extending equal custody, visitation, and adoption rights to gays and

lesbians, as well as passing laws protecting gays and lesbians from hate

crimes and discrimination in housing, employment, and places of public

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accommodation. Extending marriage rights to same-sex couples was a

necessary continuation of these efforts to ensure equality under the laws.

1. Massachusetts Has Taken Steps To Address

Discrimination Against Gays And Lesbians.

Massachusetts, like many other states, had an anti-sodomy statute that

was enforced. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, §§ 34, 35. Gay and lesbian

people were considered mentally ill and were discriminated against in

employment, in public accommodations, and by the police. See generally

Tr. 361-394 (Chauncey); see also William N. Eskridge, Jr., Challenging the

Apartheid of the Closet: Establishing Conditions for Lesbian and Gay

Intimacy, Nomos, and Citizenship, 1961-1981, 25 Hofstra L. Rev. 817, 841-

42 (1997) (describing waves of police harassment and brutality against gay

people in cities across the nation, including Boston).

In the early 1980s, Massachusetts courts took the first step forward in

protecting the rights of gays and lesbians by holding that sexual orientation

was not a proper basis for denying custody or visitation. See Bezio v.

Patenaude, 410 N.E.2d 1207, 1215-16 (Mass. 1980) (concluding that the

fact that a mother was a lesbian did not render her unfit to further her

children‟s welfare); Doe v. Doe, 452 N.E.2d 293, 296 (Mass. App. Ct.

1983). In 1989, the Legislature amended the state anti-discrimination

statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B, as well as the public accommodation
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law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, §§ 92A, 98, to include sexual orientation as a

protected class.

These developments continued in the 1990s. In 1993, the Supreme

Judicial Court permitted the adoption of a child by the birth mother‟s same-

sex partner. Adoption of Tammy, 619 N.Ed.2d 315 (Mass. 1993); Adoption

of Susan, 619 N.E.2d 323 (Mass. 1993). That same year, the Massachusetts

Legislature included sexual orientation in the non-discrimination law that

applies to schools. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 76, § 5. In 1996, the Legislature

amended the state‟s hate crime statute to include punishments for bias-

motivated crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation. Mass. Gen.

Laws ch. 265, § 39. More recently, the Legislature passed anti-bullying

legislation, responding in part to bullying incidents against lesbian, gay,

bisexual, and transgender students. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 71, § 370.

2. Extending Equal Marriage Rights Has Been A

Continuation Of Massachusetts’ Efforts To Address
Discrimination.
Despite all of these efforts, the Supreme Judicial Court determined

that discrimination persisted in Massachusetts as a result of gays‟ and

lesbians‟ inability to marry:

The withholding of relief from the plaintiffs, who wish to

marry, and are otherwise eligible to marry, on the ground that
the couples are of the same gender . . . creates a straightforward
case of discrimination that disqualifies an entire group of our

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citizens and their families from participation in an institution of

paramount legal and social importance.

Goodridge, 798 N.E.2d at 970 (Greaney, J., concurring). Denying access to

marriage precluded gays and lesbians from the “full range of human

experience,” id. at 957, and “work[ed] a deep and scarring hardship on a

very real segment of the community for no rational reason,” id. at 941. The

Supreme Judicial Court reinforced this notion when it ruled unconstitutional

a civil union proposal from the Legislature, which would have extended all

legal rights attendant to marriage. Opinions of the Justices to the Senate,

802 N.E.2d 565, 569 (Mass. 2004) (“Because the proposed law by its

express terms forbids same-sex couples entry into civil marriage, it

continues to relegate same-sex couples to a different status.”).14

14
Following Goodridge, Massachusetts has taken further steps to ensure
equality for gays and lesbians. On July 31, 2008, the Legislature signed into
law the MassHealth Equality Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 118E, § 61, which
guarantees equal access to Medicaid benefits. And, on July 8, 2009,
Massachusetts, by its Attorney General, filed a lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which
limits the definition of marriage to a legal union between one man and one
woman. On July 8, 2010, the District Court held that Section 3 exceeded
Congressional authority and struck it down. Massachusetts v. U.S. Dep’t of
Health and Human Servs., 698 F. Supp. 2d 234 (D. Mass. 2010). See also
Gill v. Office of Pers. Mgmt., 699 F. Supp. 2d 374 (D. Mass. 2010).
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B. Extending Legal Protections To Gays And Lesbians

Furthers Massachusetts’ Interest In Promoting The Public
Health Of Its Residents.

It is in a state‟s interest to protect its residents from the harms of

discrimination and social stigma. See, e.g., Alfred L. Snapp & Son., Inc. v.

Puerto Rico, 458 U.S. 592, 609 (1982) (“This Court has had too much

experience with the political, social, and moral damage of discrimination not

to recognize that a State has a substantial interest in assuring its residents

that it will act to protect them from these evils.”). Inequality under the law

can lead to both, which can cause significant public health problems. See

Tr. 2051:23-2053:18 (Herek) (discussing how structural stigma sanctioned

by law “gives a level of permission to denigrate or attack particular

groups”); Tr. 821:22-822:5, 832:1-18, 846:22-847:12, 870:23-872:21

(Meyer). Studies have firmly established the general psychological benefits

of marriage and the detriments of discrimination, and emerging research

indicates that legal protections, including marriage, have a substantial

beneficial effect on the mental health of gays and lesbians.

Recent studies have concluded that laws extending rights and

protections have a positive effect on the health of gays, lesbians, and their

children. These studies show that gays and lesbians living in states with

protective policies are significantly less likely to suffer from psychiatric

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disorders than their counterparts living in states without such policies. Mark

L. Hatzenbuehler et al., State-Level Policies and Psychiatric Morbidity in

Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations, Am. J. Pub. Health, December

2009, at 2275, 2275.15 And emerging data from Massachusetts specifically

indicate that, in the twelve months after the Goodridge decision, gay men

experienced a statistically significant decrease in medical care visits, mental

health care visits, mental health care costs, and diagnoses of depressive and

substance abuse disorders, compared to the twelve months before the law

change. Mark L. Hatzenbuehler et al., The Impact of Same-Sex Marriage

Laws on Health Care Utilization and Expenditures in Sexual Minority Men:

A Quasi-Natural Experiment (2010) (under review, on file with author).

Research has also established that different-sex married couples enjoy

greater physical and psychological health and greater economic prosperity

than unmarried persons. Tr. 578:2-25 (Peplau). Same-sex couples “are

identical to opposite-sex couples in the characteristics relevant to the ability

to form successful marital unions,” ER 112, and therefore “receive the same

tangible and intangible benefits from marriage that opposite-sex couples

receive,” ER 114.

15
The study compared states that extend protections to gays and lesbians
from hate crimes and employment discrimination with states that do not
extend such protections.

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CONCLUSION

At the conclusion of the Supreme Judicial Court‟s opinion in

Goodridge, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote:

Certainly our decision today marks a significant change in the

definition of marriage as it has been inherited from the common
law, and understood by many societies for centuries. But it
does not disturb the fundamental value of marriage in our
society.

798 N.E.2d. at 965. Almost seven years later, marriage remains a vital

institution in Massachusetts, one strengthened by including same-sex

couples. The state, its families, and its children have benefitted in many

ways from ensuring equal opportunity under the law for gays and lesbians.

Massachusetts therefore respectfully requests that this Court affirm

the District Court‟s holding that Proposition 8 violates the Due Process and

Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States

Constitution.

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October 25, 2010 Respectfully submitted:

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
MARTHA COAKLEY
ATTORNEY GENERAL

/s/ Maura T. Healey

Maura T. Healey
Jonathan B. Miller
Christopher K. Barry-Smith
Assistant Attorneys General
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: (617) 727-2200
Fax: (617) 727-5762

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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE

This brief complies with the type-volume limitations of Fed. R. App.

P. 32(a)(7)(B) because the brief contains 5,254 words, excluding the parts of
the brief exempted by Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7)(B)(iii).

This brief complies with the typeface requirements of Fed. R. App. P.

32(a)(5) and the type style requirements of Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(6) because
this brief has been prepared in a proportionally spaced typeface using Word
2007 word processing software in 14-point Times New Roman font.

/s/ Maura T. Healey

Maura T. Healey
Assistant Attorney General

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk
of the Court for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by
using the appellate CM/ECF system on October 25, 2010.

I certify that all participants in the case are registered CM/ECF users
and that service will be accomplished by the appellate CM/ECF system.

/s/ Maura T. Healey

Maura T. Healey
Assistant Attorney General

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