Being gay was once considered to be a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and it wasn’t until 1973 that the APA removed it from its list of disorders. But then gay people struggled with another problem: for decades, they weren’t allowed to legally marry.

Unlike other gay couples, however, Jack Baker and Michael McConnell managed to beat the system and obtain a marriage license back in the iron years. They now stand as the longest-married gay couple, and the story of their tenacity in the face of unyielding opposition is nothing short of inspiring.

They Couldn’t Get A Marriage License At First

Michael and Jack initially tried to obtain a marriage license from Minnesota’s Hennepin County in 1970, paying a $10 fee to apply. By that time, just about every state had dropped its laws against interracial marriages, but there was still a widespread bias against same-gender couples.

Marriage certificates are expected to be filed with the district court within two years after the ceremony. Though the validity period for license applications varies from state to state, it often ranges between 30 and 60 days. Jack and Michael’s application was rejected, but they didn’t give up on their quest to get legally married.

Their Marriage Was Finally Recognized

About five decades later, Jack and Michael got their wish at last when the Social Security Administration sent them a letter validating their 1971 marriage license on February 16, 2018. Michael was exuberant that their fight had been vindicated after all those years, declaring that their years together had been nothing short of amazing.

Michael also asserted that he and Jack had faced the bullies in power over the years and finally come out of it victorious. He shared that they had the hugest smiles on their faces as they celebrated their long-awaited validation with champagne and a movie.

They Were The First Legally Married Gay Couple

Once Michael and Jack’s marriage certificate was validated, their union became the longest same-gender marriage. Michael explained during an interview with NBC News that he believed they had used the law to their advantage and shouldn’t have had a long battle to validate their marriage.

The validation of Jack and Michael’s marriage license also made Minnesota the first state to have public files recording a same-gender marriage. In fact, they’ve turned out to be the first gay couple in the world to obtain a marriage license from a civil government.

They Came From Very Different Backgrounds

An orphan, Jack was brought up by a conservative family in Oklahoma and attended an Illinois-based Catholic boarding school for 12 years. In college, he joined the Air Force, where he studied engineering. However, Jack’s military career was cut short when a fellow airman complained about receiving unwanted advances from him.

In contrast, Michael grew up with extended family members who accepted him as he was. He later shared that because he had been raised to value long-lasting relationships, he had always dreamed of finding someone who would love him unconditionally and grow old with him.

They Were Instantly Attracted To Each Other

Jack and Michael, who are currently retired from their respective careers as a lawyer and a librarian, met while they were attending the University of Oklahoma in the late ’60s. Michael recalled that he instantly felt attracted to Jack but was wary of him at first.

Michael’s initial trepidation was because of Jack’s flattop haircut and very serious demeanor, though he later learned that the flattop was one of the few remnants of Jack’s military career. The attraction proved to be mutual when Jack started taking Michael out on dates to see movies.

An Unconventional Proposal

In 1967, Jack popped the question to Michael. They were celebrating Jack’s birthday at the time, so it seemed like the perfect occasion. However, Michael didn’t accept the proposal outright, telling Jack he would agree to the engagement only if they could get married legally.

Most same-gender couples would have thought Jack and Michael were crazy for even toying with the idea of exchanging vows back then. Nonetheless, that proposal started them on a mission to figure out how they could be officially married in the eyes of the law.

Jack Studied Law To Find Answers

In his search for a way to marry Michael, Jack decided to pursue a law degree in 1969. As he explained, he had never heard of a same-gender marriage ever occurring, so he had studied law to gain a better understanding of the options available to him and Michael.

Greg Mathis is another example of someone who studied law to solve a problem. After he was convicted as a teenager for breaking the law, his studies helped turn his life around. Though he had a difficult time landing a job upon graduation, he eventually became a judge.

They Championed The Rights Of Gay Students

While he was studying law, Jack served as the first president of FREE, a campus-based organization that fought for the right to host dances for the school’s gay student population. The organization also campaigned for corporate recruiters to provide equal employment opportunities for gay students.

Michael, who was pursuing a master’s degree in library science at the time, joined Jack in defending freedom of expression for gay students on campus. It was during this period that Jack discovered there was no mention of gender in Minnesota state law, which gave him an idea about how he could legally marry Michael.

Jack’s And Michael’s Historic Wedding

Jack and Michael recorded their nuptials on camera, and the video can bring tears to the eyes of even the most stoic viewers. The couple’s bravery as they defied the conventions of their time in the pursuit of happiness makes their story that much more touching.

The newlyweds must have had some idea of the battles that lay ahead of them, but they decided to throw caution to the wind so they could be together. They held the ceremony in 1970 at a friend’s home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, wearing bell-bottom pantsuits and with a Methodist pastor officiating.

They Got A Marriage License Despite All Odds

In 1971, Michael and Jack sought a marriage license in Minnesota’s Blue Earth County. Perhaps not paying enough attention to realize that the listed applicants were both males, the clerk issued the license. Jack took Michael’s name, thus fulfilling every requirement under the state’s laws.

At the time, the laws of Minnesota didn’t have a marriage statute that explicitly prohibited the marriage of two people of the same gender. Therefore, Jack and Michael had every reason to believe that they would enjoy all the protections and rights of married couples.

They Took Advantage Of A Legal Loophole

After their failure in Hennepin County, Jack and Michael had resorted to some trickery. In addition to submitting the application in a different county, Jack had changed his name to Pat Lyn. This name is relatively gender neutral, which may have been why the clerk hadn’t noticed Jack’s gender.

Name changing was a long process that cost quite a bit of money and involved filing a petition with a clerk, scheduling a hearing, and then appearing before a magistrate or judge to explain the reason for the name change. It would’ve been interesting to know the reason Jack had given.

Their License Was Invalidated When The Loophole Was Discovered

Unfortunately, Jack and Michael’s success was short-lived because of the widespread media attention they received. When the county authorities heard about it, the county attorney ordered the clerk not to officially record their marriage, leaving them without any legal confirmation that they were indeed a married couple.

There were several implications of Michael and Jack’s marriage not being recognized under the law. They couldn’t collect spousal benefits, and not even the Supreme Court‘s legalization of same-gender marriage in 2015 could reverse their situation. But that didn’t stop them from fighting to overturn the county’s order.

They Became Local Celebrities

Because of Michael and Jack’s relentless fight for their legal rights, they were constantly featured in local celebrity news. They also became passionate supporters of LGBTQI+ causes and later witnessed the welcome of Phillipe Cunningham and Andrea Jenkins, two transgender black people, onto their city council.

The couple shared that it definitely hadn’t been an easy process by any means and that they’d lost jobs on top of being denied their rights. They were also faced with threats of violence, but they chose to stand up for what was rightfully theirs.

They Appeared In A Magazine

Jack and Michael were featured in a 1971 special issue of Look magazine called “The American Family,” in which they discussed their relationship as a gay couple. The article referred to their union as a stable relationship, foreshadowing their future together of nearly 50 years.

That same year, Jack was elected student body president at the University of Minnesota as an openly gay man. Journalist Walter Cronkite even reported on Jack’s victory in a segment on the nightly news. The couple also appeared on the David Susskind and Phil Donahue shows.

They Stepped Away From The Spotlight

Michael and Jack were forced to withdraw from public life around 1980 when they refused to compromise on their political beliefs, for which gay leaders branded them “crazies.” Though they continued their fight to legitimize their marriage, they led quiet lives in the subsequent years.

In 1979, the couple had invested in buying a fixer-upper, and working on their house kept them well occupied over the years. Michael served as a senior official for 37 years at the Hennepin County library, while Jack went into private practice as a lawyer.

They Tried Their Luck In Court Inspired By The Famous “Lovings’ Case”

Mildred and Richard Loving were a couple not allowed to marry under the law just because they were of two different races. Their groundbreaking case was widely credited for getting the Supreme Court to overturn state laws that prevented them from legally marrying in 1967.

The precedent set by the Lovings’ case also set the stage for debates about gay marriages, and their unrelenting legal battle inspired couples like Jack and Michael to follow suit. As with all dragged-out litigations, the couple hit a snag several times. At one point, even the Supreme Court refused to hear their case.

They Appealed The Invalidation Of Their License

Michael and Jack chose to appeal the county order that invalidated their marriage license, taking it all the way to the Supreme Court. In Baker v. Nelson, they argued that Hennepin County had infringed on their privacy and civil rights, while the county asserted that the states had jurisdiction over marriage law.

But the couple was unsuccessful once again when the Supreme Court issued a one-line statement in 1972 dismissing their appeal. Four decades later, their case was cited by a federal appeals court, which resulted in a circuit-court split leading back to the Supreme Court in 2015.

A One-Sentence Ruling Based On “Biblical Grounds”

At first, the Lovings’ arguments in court failed over and over again. One judge even cited Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s interpretation of race, saying that since God placed the various races on separate continents after He had created them, He never intended for them to mix.

Michael and Jack’s Supreme Court appeal ended with a similar one-sentence ruling. The verdict declared that as far back as the biblical book of Genesis, marriage had been defined as a union between a man and a woman created for the purpose of procreating to raise children.

They Hit Another Roadblock

It wasn’t until the fall of 2014 that Jack and Michael found out the marriage certificate they’d obtained back in 1971 wasn’t even valid. Although they had both signed it along with witnesses and their officiating pastor, they couldn’t prove its authenticity because Blue Earth County’s attorney had prevented their marriage from being recorded.

County officials said they couldn’t file it in 2015 either given that same-gender marriages before 2013 were still considered invalid. The couple had gotten so far only to fall just short of their goal, but the two men, who were already in their 70s, still sought legal redress.

They Considered Marrying Again

To celebrate the legalization of same-gender marriages, Jack and Michael considered holding another ceremony to verify their union. However, doing so would mean marrying again, which also runs afoul of the law because the state of Minnesota doesn’t permit the same couple to marry twice.

The couple’s other option was to go back to court to have their marriage certificate validated so that their marriage would be legally recognized at last. Since this was what they had been fighting for over the years anyway, they decided to go that route.

They Wrote A Memoir About Their Marriage

In 2016, Jack and Michael released a memoir sharing the story of their groundbreaking marriage with the help of the University of Minnesota Press. The cover touted that news of their nuptials had spread across the world. Michael declared that the wonderful years they had together were all that mattered.

The couple has also contributed thousands of documents, video clips, and letters to the University of Minnesota‘s Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Library Collection. The collection contains more than 3,000 materials, including music, posters, and organizational records, that the university uses in its gay and transgender studies.

Their Marriage Was Recognized By The Federal Government

By the time they reached their 70s, most married couples would have already settled into their golden years at a senior community to enjoy the best period of their lives together. But Jack and Michael were just beginning to enter a new chapter of their marriage.

The payoff finally came when the couple received legal recognition from the federal government, thus enabling them to access their spousal benefits. They also found out that they had become eligible for federal retirement benefits because they had been married for such a long time.

A Lesbian Couple Wed In Their 90s

In another case, a gay couple in their 90s who resided in Iowa established their union by exchanging vows in 2014 after the state legalized same-gender marriages in 2009. Alice “Nonie” Dubes and her bride, Vivian Boyak, had been together for 72 years when they finally made it official.

The two women grew up together in Yale, Iowa, and in 1947 they relocated to Davenport. They shared that they had built special memories together over their lifetimes by traveling across every state in the Union and making trips to England and Canada as well.

Being Gay Has Always Been Around

Documents from ancient times also recorded various same-gender marriages, which included unsanctioned relationships, highly ritualized unions, and informal couplings. For example, the writings of Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.) were found to have made mention of such a marriage between Curio and Antonius.

The Siwa Oasis in Egypt is documented to have historically accepted same-gender marriages as well. German Egyptologist George Syeindorff reported during his visit in 1900 that same-gender relationships were quite common in the region and often led to marriages. However, the nation’s authorities have worked to suppress them since the beginning of the 20th century.

Striving For Absolute Equality

Michael told NBC News that he believed people should never be denied absolute equality in the eyes of the law because of their ethnicity, race, personal orientation, or gender. He added that love was a powerful force that could overcome the obstacles in anyone’s way.

Jack chimed in that it was our responsibility as individuals to stand up for our rights because no one else could do it for us. In September 2019, the couple will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Stories like theirs and the Lovings’ give hope to all people struggling to legitimize their unions under the law.