Jack Baker and Michael McConnell
Richard John "Jack" Baker (also known as Pat Lyn McConnell) and James Michael McConnell are the first same-sex couple to have been married legally in the United States with a marriage license that was never revoked. Their marriage has been asserted to be the earliest same-sex marriage recorded in the public files of any civil government, although the local government refused to record the marriage or to recognize its validity for more than 47 years. The couple met in 1966, and Baker proposed to MCConnell to enter into a committed relationship on Baker's 25th birthday on March 10, 1967, with McConnell agreeing only on the condition that Baker find a way for them to live openly as a married couple, and Baker enrolled as a law student in order to pursue their right to marry. Baker, then a student, and McConnell, a librarian, became gay activists in the U.S. state of Minnesota from 1969 to 1980. After being refused in their first attempt to obtain a marriage license in Hennepin County in early 1970, Baker was legally adopted by McConnell in early August 1971 and changed his legal name to Pat Lyn McConnell (although he continued to use "Jack Baker" informally). They then applied for a marriage license in a different county (Blue Earth County) on August 9, 1971, succeeded in obtaining one there on August 16, 1971, and held a wedding ceremony on September 3, 1971. They were later often invited to appear and speak at colleges, schools, businesses and churches in the U.S. and Canada, although their marriage was not recorded or recognized as legal by the local government, various courts, the IRS and the Veterans Administration, until a state district court in Blue Earth County ordered its recognition on September 18, 2018. On October 15, 1971, the Minnesota Supreme Court in Baker v. Nelson affirmed a court clerk's refusal in early 1970 to issue them a marriage license in Hennepin County for the sole reason that they were same-sex partners (despite this not being identified in Minnesota law as a reason for prohibiting a marriage). Their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was initially accepted but was then dismissed on October 10, 1972, which had the effect of affirming the state supreme court ruling and establishing it as a precedent at the federal level. Baker and McConnell (and others) have asserted that neither the state supreme court decision nor the U.S. Supreme Court dismissal directly affected the validity of Baker and McConnell's marriage, because although they were refused a marriage license in Hennepin County, they had successfully obtained one from Blue Earth County and gotten married using that license before the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in support of the Hennepin County clerk's refusal to issue them a license. Since their marriage had never officially been declared nullified, a district court ultimately agreed with that view in 2018 despite the fact that the marriage had never previously been recorded or recognized by the state. Early years

Baker was born in Chicago on March 10, 1942, and after both of his parents died, he spent grades 1–12 at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, Illinois, a Catholic boarding school. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, also in 1942, James Michael McConnell was raised and loved by his Baptist parents. After graduating from Norman High School, he attended the University of Oklahoma (OU), ending with a Master of Library Science degree in June 1968. While on active duty (four years) in the U.S. Air Force, Baker was accepted in the Airmen Education Commissioning Program and stationed at OU, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering. He returned to Norman as a civilian, met McConnell, and invited him to hang out. With reluctance, his friend agreed to enter into a serious relationship. Baker also later received a Master's degree in June 1968. FREE activism
In 1969, weeks before the Stonewall riots in New York City, two roommates recruited local friends to join a team called "Fight Repression of Erotic Expression" as part of an outreach program sponsored by Minnesota Free University. Robert Halfhill, a graduate student who attended their lecture, wanted more than "just a social organization". He left, determined to lead an independent group of "FREE" students and activists on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. Attendees elected Jack Baker, a law student, to serve as president. Moving aggressively and openly, FREE eventually transformed Minneapolis into a "mecca for gays", with members soon endorsing McConnell's dream of same-sex marriage. When a faculty committee qualified the members to receive all privileges enjoyed by student groups, it became "the first student gay organization to gain recognition in the upper mid-west." Its "leaders [believed] it to be the first such organization on a Big Ten campus", and the second such organization in the United States, following the Student Homophile League recognized by Columbia University in 1967. One member asked five major companies with local offices to explain their attitudes toward gay men and women. Three responded quickly, insisting that they did not discriminate against gay people in their hiring policies. Honeywell objected to hiring people they knew to be gay. Later in the decade, when faced with a denial of access to students, Honeywell reversed its hiring policy. In 1971, Baker campaigned to become president of the Minnesota Student Association at the University of Minnesota. He was elected, then re-elected. The regents consented to his campaign promise and invited one student to sit with each committee as a non-voting member. That practice proved to be popular and became policy. The governor later signed into law a bill reserving one seat on the board of regents for an enrolled student. The birth of PRIDE
In 1971, Members of FREE from Gay House invited friends to meet at picnics in Loring Park, near Downtown Minneapolis. Such events, which encouraged  self-pride, began in mid-June as a prelude to local celebrations of Independence Day. Thom Higgins, Prime Archon of the Church of the Chosen People, crafted Gay Pride for the banner that would lead the crowd as it encouraged allies, supporters and bystanders to punish the Catholic archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis for his public condemnation of both the gay life-style and self-pride as sinful. At the time, Jack was the chair of the Target City Coalition, parent corporation for The Gay Pride Committee, which sponsored the Festival of Pride each June. Such celebrations spread and became the PRIDE tradition that thrives today in cities throughout the United States. In 1973, FREE continued working with University of Minnesota faculty to protect gay students from discrimination. Central Administration approved the final draft of a new policy in 1972 and the Campus Committee on Placement Services began accepting complaints of unequal treatment by employers recruiting on campus. A member of FREE received class credit for documenting his youth and why he supported America's first gay marriage, which was featured on WCCO-TV. Same-sex marriage activism
When a modern movement for "marriage equality" emerged from the University of Minnesota, it attracted extensive media attention, including appearances on the Phil Donahue Show; Kennedy & Co. (WLS-TV, Chicago IL); and David Susskind Show (New York, NY). After a professor of history, Allan Spear, mocked them as the "lunatic fringe", admiration among peers spread locally

Lawsuit to obtain a marriage license

After McConnell and Baker applied for a marriage license, the clerk's rejection was affirmed by the Minnesota Supreme Court. However, before the court's opinion was published, McConnell re-applied – in a different county – and received a marriage license. Same-sex marriage as a civil right

Speaking to members of the Ramsey County Bar Association, Baker insisted that same-sex unions are "not only authorized by the U.S. Constitution" but are mandatory. Later, Baker spoke to a forum of more than 2,000 at the University of Winnipeg, which Richard North credited as the start of his "fight to be married"<ref>Mia Rabson, "Couple helped make history", Winnipeg Free Press, A4 (September 17, 2004). Context: In 2003, a court of appeals in Canada legalized same-sex marriage in the province Ontario'. Interview by Canadian Museum for Human Rights is posted online by CBC (Canada, 2004). "Chris Vogel and Rich North of Winnipeg were the first gay couple to legally marry in Canada." North's letter of gratitude to Jack Baker (September 20, 2004) is posted online courtesy of the University of Minnesota's McConnell Files. "We now have equal marriage in Manitoba, and our efforts here were a direct result of your leadership in Minnesota." GUIDE: Click 'posted online' to view the primary source. If the letter does not appear on your screen, copy-n-paste the hyperlink into a different browser.</ref> to Chris Vogel. In 2012, the president of the NAACP Benjamin Todd Jealous called same-sex marriage the "civil rights issue of our times" while Baker said "the conclusion was intuitively obvious to a first-year law student." Courts debate their marriage
McConnell's marriage to Baker depended on how Minnesota interpreted its laws. Early results were not favorable. An appeal, sponsored by the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union, was accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court which then dismissed it. The U.S. Supreme Court response, issued on October 10, 1972, was a one-sentence order: "The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question." Their joint tax return for 1973 was rejected by the Internal Revenue Service. Likewise, the Veterans Administration rejected McConnell's request for spousal benefits. Undaunted, McConnell listed Baker as an adopted "child" on his tax returns for which he received a deduction as head of household from 1974 through 2004. That benefit ended when Congress limited the deduction to an individual under the age of 19. Adoption and later legal review
After McConnell adopted Baker, he re-applied in Blue Earth County and received a marriage license, which "was never revoked". Rev. Roger Lynn, a minister from the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, validated the marriage contract at a private home in Minneapolis.Claire Bowes, "Jack Baker and Michael McConnell: Gay Americans who married in 1971" (July 3, 2013); available online from BBC News Magazine. "Pastor Roger Lynn holds up Baker and McConnell's marriage certificate" from the ceremony he conducted in Minneapolis. The Hennepin County Attorney convened a grand jury, which studied the legality of the marriage but found the question not worth pursuing. The Family Law Reporter argued in 1974 that Baker v. Nelson could not annul a marriage contract that was validated "a full six weeks" before the decision was filed. Professor Thomas Kraemer of Oregon State University asserted on a blog in 2013 that FREE had hosted "the first same-sex couple in history to be legally married". However, their marriage remained unrecorded and unrecognized by Blue Earth county until the couple again petitioned a local court for recognition of their marriage around 2018. On September 18, 2018, a district court judge in Blue Earth county concluded that "The [1971] marriage is declared to be in all respects valid," and ordered its recognition by the local government. Vindication in later years

The couple obtained a valid marriage license before the rejection in Hennepin County was appealed to and accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court. Though that case ended in 1972, "for want of a substantial federal question", other challenges followed as they pursued affirmation of their union while living openly as a married couple. In 1972, Baker led the Gay Rights Caucus at the state convention of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, the affiliate of the national Democratic Party in the state of Minnesota. The caucus persuaded delegates to endorse "legislation defining marriage as a civil contract between any two adults". That vote became the "first known case" of support by a major United States political party for same-sex marriage. In 2003, Baker and McConnell amended their individual tax returns for the year 2000, filing jointly as a couple, offering proof of a valid marriage license from Blue Earth County. The IRS challenged the validity of the marriage and argued that, even if the license were valid, the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the IRS from recognizing it. When McConnell brought suit, the U.S. District Court for Minnesota upheld the IRS ruling and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, saying that McConnell could not re-litigate a question  decided previously. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court answered the question they had dismissed in 1972: "Do same-sex couples have a constitutional right to get married?" In the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the court concluded that this right does exist,  because all citizens have an inherent right to marry the adult of their choice, overturning the Minnesota Supreme Court's opinion in Baker v. Nelson, which had been accepted as precedent. As a "friend of the court", the Attorney General of Minnesota agreed that the Minnesota Supreme Court's prior "procreation rationale" did not support its prohibition of same-sex marriage. Employment discrimination at the University of Minnesota 
In 1970, the University Librarian invited Michael McConnell to head the Cataloging Division on the university's St. Paul campus. The board of regents refused to approve the offer after McConnell applied for a marriage license, and regent Daniel Gainey asserted that "homosexuality is about the worst thing there is." McConnell sued and prevailed in federal District Court. The board appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which agreed with the university that it had not restricted free speech. Instead, it ruled that McConnell was to blame for wanting to implement his "controversial ideas" and foist tacit approval of his "socially repugnant concept" on his employer. More than 80% of University of Minnesota students disagreed with the regents' behavior. Hennepin County Library, then a diverse and growing system of 26 facilities, hired McConnell. After 37 years of service, McConnell retired as a Coordinating Librarian with gratitude expressed publicly. In 2012, University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler offered McConnell a personal apology for the "reprehensible" treatment endured from the board of regents in 1970. McConnell accepted his assurances and agreed to join the Heritage Society of the President's Club. Interviews

Short documentary

Further reading
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Memoir of Michael McConnell (2016) as told to Gail Langer Karwoski, "The Wedding Heard Heard 'Round the World: America's First Gay Marriage. ", Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press''. Notes

References 

1942 births
20th-century American LGBT people
21st-century American LGBT people
American LGBT rights activists
LGBT in Minnesota
LGBT people from Minnesota
Living people
Married couples
Same-sex couples