Equality in the Garden State: Litigation and Social Activism in the Struggle for Marriage Equality

by ANDREW BRUCK

The first New York Times wedding announcement to feature a gay couple described how Steven Goldstein and Daniel Gross met. The relationship began with a self-deprecating personal ad in the Washington City Paper, followed by a date at Dupont Circle’s Kramerbooks, a month’s worth of long-distance phone calls and, years later, a civil union ceremony in Vermont.  Although the Times’ decision in August 2002 to include same-sex unions sparked controversy, the wedding announcement itself was as quotidian as it was historic. The piece did not mention the many battles fought over the paper’s wedding section: the impassioned four-page letter Goldstein and Gross wrote to the Times editorial board, or the years of lobbying by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). It simply told a story about two people falling in love.

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