PHOTO: Gay marriage pioneers Michael McConnell, 73, and Jack Baker, 73, at their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 1, 2015. (Courtesy Angela Jimenez)
Minnesota public radio interviewed gay marriage pioneers Jack Baker and Michael McConnell to get their reactions to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage that they first brought to the Court in 1972. For both a text report and audio of their reactions, see the excellent piece by Tracy Mumford, "For Mpls. couple, gay marriage ruling is a victory 43 years in the making," mprnews.org Jul. 16, 2015, which also includes a link to the 1972 TV show that Jack and Mike appeared on to advocate for gay marriage. (See Sasha Aslanian, "Video: Gay rights pioneers Jack Baker and Michael McConnell predicted marriage victory in '70s," mprnews.org posted May 16, 2013)
VIDEO: Jack Baker and Michael McConnell appeared on a 1972 national TV show to talk about gay marriage. (Note: the video is undated, but it is from about 1972 because in the video Baker says they are both 30 years old (at about 4:20). Baker complained that many liberals ask him why gays can't settle for the same rights of marriage, without using the name marriage, which he rejects as being less than equal. Baker also describes his political strategy for "disrupting the system" to achieve justice (6:35), which was a popular rhetoric during the civil rights and gay liberation period of the 1970's (See Sasha Aslanian, "Video: Gay rights pioneers Jack Baker and Michael McConnell predicted marriage victory in '70s," mprnews.org posted May 16, 2013 (7:19) and Video share link http://bcove.me/firyiflu -- from WNEW, New York, courtesy Museum of Broadcast Services.)
An interview with the gay marriage pioneers Jack Baker and Michael McConnell was previously aired on my local public radio station Eugene, OR KLCC-FM (89.7) and Portland, OR KOPB-FM (91.5) Sat. Jun. 6, 2015, as part of a national public radio program "The Takeaway" with John Hockenberry, "The Weekender: Love, Marriage and The Law," WNYC public radio (19 minutes) thetakeaway.org posted June 6, 2015 and Produced by: Jay Cowit and Amber Hall. See previous post National Public Radio interviews gay marriage visionaries Jack Baker and Michael McConnell (6/10/15)
Their history is now stored at The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Minnesota and it will be documented in a soon to be published book by Michael McConnell with Jack Baker, As told to Gail Langer Karwoski, "The Wedding Heard 'Round the World, America's First Gay Marriage," University of Minnesota Press, Jan. 2016.
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