20 years of marriage rights for same-sex couples. Research disputes apocalyptic fears

NEWTON, Mass. -- The love story of Marueen Brodoff and Ellen Wade runs nearly half a century, never mind that the state of Massachusetts only recognized their union for the last 20 years.

"We were married in our hearts a long time before that," said Brodoff, who was among the very first same-sex couples in the United States to legally wed.

"Were we trailblazers? No, we didn't feel that way," she told ABC News in an interview at the family's Newton, Massachusetts, home. "But we did feel like we had a story to tell."

Two decades after the first LGBTQ+ Americans entered into legal marriages in Massachusetts -- the first state to extend the right to same-sex couples -- their stories have become a familiar part of the tableau of American families, helping to transform public opinion and dispel fears about the consequences of the social shift.

Of the 1.2 million same-sex couple households in the U.S. as of 2021, roughly 710,000 were married, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A strong majority of Americans (71%) think same-sex marriage should be legal, according to the latest Gallup polling. Nearly 30 years ago, barely a quarter of the public held a supportive view.

"It's a recognition by the state, by the community, by your friends, by your workplace, that you're in this relationship, and that it's a very important relationship," Wade said, "and that you're entitled to be treated the same as the person that sits next to you at work and is in a heterosexual relationship."

A groundbreaking analysis of 96 studies over the last 20 years conducted by the RAND Corporation last month – the first and most extensive report of its kind – finds that the impact of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples in the U.S. has been "consistently positive."

"The benefits to same sex couples were unambiguous and very strong," said Benjamin Karney, a UCLA psychology professor and co-author of the report.

Data show clear gains in mental health, economic well-being, physical health and relationship stability among married LGBTQ families, Karney said. Studies have also noted a drop in hate crime rates for LGBTQ+ individuals since the extension of marriage rights.

Researchers also scrutinized claims raised by same-sex marriage opponents years ago that allowing gays and lesbians to legally marry would affect the development of children, undermine a key social institution and diminish the benefits of marriage for different-sex couples.

"Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society," then-President George W. Bush said shortly after Massachusetts granted the first marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004.

"The children of America have a right to have a mother and a father," warned then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, in testimony before Congress on the expansion of marriage rights in Massachusetts. "It may affect the development of children and thereby future society as a whole."

Karney said RAND found "no evidence" to support those claims and others.

"On the contrary, what we found is that whenever there's a significant effect on different sex marriage, it was a positive effect," Karney said. "In the years immediately following a state legalizing marriage for same sex couples, there was a slight rise in marriage rates for different sex couples."

"Critics might have different new arguments," Karney added, "but they can't rehash the old arguments because the data seems pretty clear."

Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank helping set the agenda for a potential second term for former President Donald Trump, said most Republicans have abandoned efforts to rollback LGBTQ+ marriage rights.

"I don't think any conservatives worth their salt – any conservative scholars are calling for that. Precedent is precedent for a reason," she said, referring to the 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that guaranteed marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide.

LGBTQ+ rights advocates aren't so confident.

"I don't think that we can take any of our rights for granted," said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it's that it is within the ability of the Supreme Court in a single day to work to roll back our rights of the last 20 years, 40 years, 50 years."

When the Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion to the Dobbs ruling openly calling for reconsideration of other longstanding precedents, including those involving marriage and contraception.

Robinson said there is cautious optimism among community leaders and allies in this high-stakes election year.

More than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislative sessions this year, according to the ACLU. But less than 7% have become law, in a notable decline from last year when more than 13% were enacted.

"Our community, when we show up, when we show up at the ballot box, when we show up in state legislatures, equality wins every single time," Robinson said.

Perry, the Heritage Foundation legal fellow, said "political will" to restrict LGBTQ+ rights has waned on the right in a campaign year with more pressing issues like inflation, crime and abortion rights.

"As we go into an election year, the stakes are significantly higher and will play, I believe, very much into the national dialogue as opposed to simply at the state level," she said.

As debates over LGBTQ+ equality continue – particularly in the areas of transgender health care and sports participation – Brodoff and Wade said living out and proud as a family is the best way they can continue momentum toward greater acceptance.

"If you know families like us, your opinions are more likely to change," said Kate Brodoff.

"Partly what the answer is to people who are skeptical is that marriage and the rights of marriage, and to build strong, stable, loving families – It's at the core of not just LGBTQ people want, it's sort of it's what marriage is about," said Wade.

Asked about the secret behind their nearly five decade bond, Wade added, "I think we kind of tried to take each other as we are and accept what we can't change."