Bill Clinton’s time in office saw the enactment of two major pieces of legislation concerning same sex couples. in 1993, there was Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which codified legal marriage as beween one man and one woman, while leaving it to the states  to decide whether to grant marriage licenses to same sex couples. Three years later came the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, which allowed homosexuals to serve in the military on the condition that they not declare their orientation. DADT was struck down in 2011, while DOMA remains, with several states and the District of Columbia now recognizing gay marriages.

On this day, February 4, in 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriage. A Massachusetts Supreme Court decision the previous year (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health) held that denying homosexuals the right to marry was discriminatory and therefore illegal; in 2004 the same court declared civil unions between same sex couples unconstitutional on the same grounds.

Four years after the decision, Connecticut’s Supreme Court used much the same reasoning in allowing gay marriages in their state. The following year, four more states — Vermont, Iowa, Maine and New Hampshire, in that order — began allowing gay marriages. In 2010, D.C. began holding the ceremonies. California briefly allowed gay marriages before a voter referendum, “Proposition 8,” overturned that ruling in a 52 – 47% vote.