Foreword from the Editors

Preface

Ten years ago today, in Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court came to what seemed then a stunning conclusion: the state’s constitution forbid discrimination against same-sex couples who wanted to marry.  It takes a leap of imagination to think back to that time; a decade has wrought change so profound and extensive that one can almost forget how bold the decision was.  Ten years on, fifteen states, from Vermont to Hawaii, now recognize same-sex marriage.  This year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government cannot discriminate against lawfully married same-sex couples.  The legal changes have spurred cultural changes; an internet search for “Goodridge decision” yields, among other things, an option for “Goodridge decision wedding reading.”  To the Song of Solomon, Shakespeare, Browning, and Neruda, now add Chief Justice Marshall.  A decade later, we reflect on Goodridge with this special issue.

– The Boston Bar Journal Board of Editors