Jack Baker (activist)

James Michael McConnell (born 1942) and Richard John "Jack" Baker (born 1942) are the first same-sex couple to be married legally with a license that was never revoked.Newsletter (p. 6), "Hidden Treasures from the Stacks", September 2013
available online
from ''The National Archives at Kansas City''. Their wedding became the earliest same-sex marriage ever to be recorded in the public files of any civil government.

McConnell, a librarian, and Baker, a law student, were gay activists in the U.S. state of Minnesota from 1969 to 1980. After their marriage in Minnesota on 3 September 1971, they were invited often to appear publicly at colleges, schools, businesses and churches in the U.S. and Canada.

In late 1971, the Minnesota Supreme Court in ''Baker v. Nelson'' affirmed the lower court order to deny a marriage license to same-sex partners."Minnesota Statutes Annotated", ''West Publishing Co.'' (1970)
* Chapter 517.01: Marriage a civil contract. "Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential."
* Chapter 517.03: Marriages prohibited. he list does not include parties of the same gender./ref> Their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was accepted but later dismissed.The U.S. Supreme Court was required to accept an appeal of a state court's "opinion" as a matter of right, a practice that the ''Supreme Court Case Selections Act'' ended in 1988.

Historians argued, correctly, that neither decision affected McConnell and Baker because the couple obtained a valid license from Blue Earth County when they re-applied in early 1971.

Early years

Born in Norman, Oklahoma (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 an MLS Degree (Master of Library Science). Baker was born in Chicago (1942) and, after both parents died, spent grades 1 - 12 at Maryville Academy,Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 5a-e and 8c), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* September 1947: To ensure that the remaining four of ten children – two boys and two girls – remained together, Baker was allowed to enter the first grade at age 5 and graduate from high school at age 17, a stay of almost 12 years.
* March 1967: On Baker's 25th Birthday, McConnell insisted that he would accept Baker's invitation to commit as lovers if, and only if, he could find a way for the relationship to be recognized as a "legal" marriage. a Catholic boarding school.

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 BSIE degree (Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering). He returned to Norman as a civilian – "Boy meets boy" – and invited McConnell to hang out together. With reluctance, his friend agreed to negotiate a serious relationship.

FREE activism

In 1969, weeks before the Stonewall riots, 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"Bruce Johasen, "Out of Silence", ''Minnesota History'' (Spring 2019), 189. -> "Halfhill steered the group through the administrative channels needed to establish FREE as a student group". students and activists on the Minneapolis campus (U of M) of the University of Minnesota.

Attendees elected Jack Baker, a law student,Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volumes 6a-b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''. As a student body president, elected 1971 and re-elected 1972, he was known by different names.
* March 1942: Richard John Baker, Certificate of Birth
* September 1969: Jack Baker, name adopted to lead activists demanding gay equality
* August 1971: Pat Lyn McConnell, married name; by Decree of Adoption to serve as president. Moving aggressively and openly, FREE slowly transformed Minneapolis into a "mecca for gays",Lily Hansen, ''GAY'', "F.R.E.E. At Last" (11 May 1970), 13.
* See also, the Introduction by Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality" (2004)
Available online
from ''U of M Libraries''. 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,Wayne R. Dynes, "Homosexuality and Government, Politics and Prisons" (1992), 248
Available online
accessed February 7, 2012. it became "the first student gay organization to gain recognition in the upper mid-west."News from, ''Fight Repression of Erotic Expression'' (1 November 1969).
Its "leaders elievedit 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,Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 1a - d), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* Letter to FREE from Vice President Gerry E. Morse, ''Honeywell Inc.'' (29 June 1970). -> "We would not employ a known homosexual."
* Anon., "Three big companies say they hire Gays", ''The Advocate'' (30 September 1970).
* Lars Bjornson, "A quiet win: Honeywell yields", ''The Advocate'' (10 April 1974), 13. 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 campaignedSources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volume 6a), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* Profile of "Jack Baker", ''Minnesota Daily'' (9 March 1971), page 2. -> Student dignity is "a state of mind that forces students to realize their own self-worth and to search out a new self respect," Baker said in a recent policy statement.
* A New Level Of Self-Respect. Kay Tobin and Randy Wicker, "The Gay Crusaders", ''Paperback Library'', New York (1972), 136. to become president of the Minnesota Student Association at the U of M. He was elected,Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 6a - b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
*Endorsement: "Baker for MSA president", ''Minnesota Daily'', (5 April 1971), page 4. -> "He has spoken truth to power because he knows the power of truth."
* Steve Brandt, "Baker wins in record vote," ''Minnesota Daily'' (8 April 1971), 1. -> "A total of 6,024 ballots cast topped the previous record of 5,049 in the 1958 election."
* Gary Dawson, "Homosexual Credits U Election Victory to a New Sophistication", ''St. Paul Dispatch'' (8 April 1971), 35. then re-elected.Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary" (volumes 6a - b), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* Vic Stoner, "Baker, Schwartz win MSA election", ''Minnesota Daily'' (7 April 1972), 1. -> It was "the first time in the 121-year history of the U of M that a student body president has been re-elected."
* Anon., "Law senior elected U. student president", ''Associated Press''. Re-printed in ''Austin Daily Herald'' (7 April 1972), page ?. 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.Scott Paulsen, "Twin Cities Gay and Lesbian Community Oral History Project", ''Minnesota Historical Society'' : GUIDE: If the interview does not appear on your screen, copy-n-paste the hyperlink into a different browser.
* (page 14) SP: There was someone who had a lot of press nationally, that's Jack Baker. Can you tell me something about his involvement and what you thought of him and his role in FREE and the gay community? Let's just start with FREE. → KP: wasreally upset with Jack.  . . . the right to get married was just a publicity stunt. I was really angry about that and felt that Jack was an opportunist and really in it for himself.  . . . → I think one of the reasons I didn't hang in there is because the group was moving. After the initial public political things we did, I think the group was moving in a direction of being more just a social organization and moving more toward the Democratic party, with Jack being this sort of benevolent dictator. The whole thing was just not what I liked to be a part of.
** (page 16) KP: There were not enough lesbians who were politically conscious at the time to come in and be a force in FREE. I thought that's the way it was. I would say at the beginning of almost every meeting, "Where are the women?" and everybody would laugh.
* (page 20) SP: Yes, Gay Pride and the march. → KP: Most definitely it is a creation FREE and the people in FREE.  . . . I don't think I even went to a picnic.  . . . 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 traditionSources: Michael McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" (Gift #13), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* Binder #7: MEMORANDUM for the record (19 May 2021). Some credit New York City, incorrectly, as " the cradle of the modern LGBT rights movement". Riots there were a response to police harassment and had nothing to do with either "Gay Pride" celebrations or demands for "Gay Marriage", both of which began in Minneapolis from where they spread worldwide.
** "Gay Pride" appears on fliers waved by a few individuals in a march entitled "Gay and Proud", which was promoted by its sponsors as "the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, held in New York City, New York, on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots." Source: video
available online
from the ''Library of Congress''.
** Stonewall leadership decided to change its commemoration of riots to a celebration of "Gay Pride" after Thom Higgins, formerly a monk before joining FREE, coined the term for that purpose.
* Binder #7a: Egil Jonsson posted his copy of Jim Chalgren's 'Gay Pride' photo on his Facebook page (29 February 2012, re-posted on 24 June 2019) with this comment: "I am in the orange range, 16 years old. This was the first gay rights march in the country that had a headline banner "Gay Pride". The following year all the marches adopted this and everyone called it Gay Pride. The banner was made by a friend, Thom Higgins, . . . Thom and I dated, ecamefriends in 1980." that thrives today in cities throughout the United States.

In 1973, FREE continued working with U of M faculty to protect gay students from discrimination.Letter mailed to Jack Baker and others (11 February 1971). ''University of Minnesota'' president Malcolm Moos said, "I appreciate your willingness to serve on the Campus Committee on Placement Services."
* also: Gary Urban, "Complaint charges Honeywell discrimination", ''Minnesota Daily'' (12 March 1973), 8. 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 An historic celebration with no legal certificate, even if blessed in church, is perhaps a wedding but not a marriage.
* Source: Black's Law Dictionary, Revised Fourth Edition, ''West Publishing Co''. (1968).
** (page 1123) MARRIAGE: Marriage, as distinguished from the agreement to marry and from the act of becoming married, is the civil status, condition, or relation of wo partiesunited in law for life, for the discharge to each other and the community of the duties legally incumbent on those who's association is founded on the distinction of sex. 1 Bish.Mar. & Div. § 3; Collins v Hoag & Rollins, 121 Neb. 716, 238 N.W. 351, 355; Allen v. Allen, 73 Conn. 54, 46 A. 242, 49 L.R.A. 142.
** (page 1124) MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE: An instrument which certifies a marriage, and is executed by the person officiating at the marriage; it is not intended to be signed by the parties. Spencer v. Spencer, 84 Misc.Rep. 264, 147 N.Y.S. 111, 113. equality emerged from the U of M, it attracted extensive media attention,Sources: Michael McConnell Files (Gift #6), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* Jack Star, "The Homosexual Couple," ''LOOK'' (26 January 1971), 69 - 71.
* Michael Durham, "Homosexuals in revolt", ''LIFE'' (31 December 1971), 68. including appearances on the ''Phil Donahue Show''; Kennedy & Co. (WLS-TV, Chicago IL); and ''David Susskind Show'' (New York, NY). Though a professor of history, Allan Spear, mocked them as the "lunatic fringe", admiration spread.

Lawsuit to obtain a marriage licence

After McConnell and Baker applied for a marriage license, the clerk's rejection was affirmed by the Minnesota Supreme Court. However, before its "opinion" was published, McConnell re-applied – in a different county – and received a marriage license. The American Civil Liberties Union refused a request for legal support.

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 spokeSources: Michael McConnell Files, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''
* Jack Baker, "The right to be human and gay", ''Manitoban'' (13 March 1972). As reprinted by Ken Bronson in "A Quest for Full Equality", page 69 (2004)
Available online
from ''U of M Libraries''. 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" to Chris Vogel.

With the outcome never in doubt, marriage became the "civil rights issue of our times"Michael K. Lavers, "NAACP president: Marriage is civil rights issue of our times" ''Washington Blade'' (21 May 2012)
available online
/ref> because "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 but later dismissed, unanimously.

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, name change, and a lasting marriage

After McConnell adopted Baker, he re-applied in Blue Earth County and received a marriage license, which "was never revoked"."Daily Record", ''Mankato Free Press'' (16 August 1971), p. ?. Recorded in Mankato by the Clerk of District Court, Fifth Judicial District, which includes Blue Earth County. Rev. Roger Lynn, a minister from the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, validated the marriage contract at a private home in Minneapolis.For Release, "Minnesota Hosts First Legally Sanctioned Same-Sex Marriage", ''Minnesota Student Association'' (7 September 1971)
* See also; For immediate release, ''FREE'' (17 May 1970)Claire Bowes, "Jack Baker and Michael McConnell: Gay Americans who married in 1971" (3 July 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 that ''Baker v. Nelson'' could not annul a marriage contract that was validated "a full six weeks" before the decision was filed.Bureau of National Affairs, "Gay married couple frustrated in adoption bid", ''The Family Law Reporter'' (10 December 1974). The "federal constitution prohibition against ex post facto laws . . . forbids the imposition of punishment for past conduct lawful at the time it was engaged" (page 2103).

Professor Thomas Kraemer insisted that FREE hosted "the first same-sex couple in history to be legally married".Professor Thomas Kraemer regon State University "Gay marriage discussion in 1953 vs. 1963 and today" (16 December 2013)
Available online
from ''Tom's OSU'' In 2018, "The 971marriage is declared to be in all respects valid."Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage" (binder #4), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* CONCLUSIONS OF LAW by Assistant Chief Judge Gregory Anderson (18 September 2018). Fifth Judicial District, File #07-CV-16-4559. "The September 3, 1971 marriage of James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell, a/k/a Richard John Baker, has never been dissolved or annulled by judicial decree and no grounds currently exist on which to invalidate the marriage" (page 4)
Available online
from ''U of M Libraries''.

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 DFL Gay Rights Caucus at the State Convention of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. 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 tried to resolve in 1972: "Do same-sex couples have a constitutional right to get married?" Yes, because all citizens have an inherent right to marry the adult of one's choice. As a friend of the court,Source: Obergefell v. Hodges, ''In The Supreme Court of the United States'' (March 2015).
* Lori Swanson, Attorney General, "Brief of the State of Minnesota as AMICUS CURIAE in support of petitioners", page 18
Available online.
/ref> Minnesota's Attorney General argued that the Minnesota Supreme Court's "procreation rationale" did not support its prohibition of same-sex marriage.

Employment discrimination at U of M

In 1970, the University LibrarianSources: McConnell Files, “Full Equality, a diary", volumes 5a-e (The McConnell case), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* Letter from Ralph H. Hopp, University Librarian, ''U of M'', mailed to Michael McConnell (27 April 1970).
* Letter from James F. Hogg, Secretary, Board of Regents, ''University of Minnesota'', delivered to Michael McConnell (10 July 1970). -> The following recommendation of its Executive Committee is approved: "That the appointment of Mr. J. M. McConnell to the position of the Head of the Cataloging Division of the St. Paul Campus Library at the rank of Instructor not be approved on the grounds that his personal conduct, as represented in the public and University news media, is not consistent with the best interest of the University." 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 insisted 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 that the university did not restrict free speech. Instead, it was McConnell who wanted to implement his "controversial ideas" and foist tacit approval of his "socially repugnant concept" upon the employer. More than 80% of the U of M students objected to 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"Sources: McConnell Files, "America’s First Gay Marriage", Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, ''U of M Libraries''.
* "News", ''University News Service'' (22 June 2012). -> "U of M President Eric Kaler has called McConnell's treatment reprehensible, regrets that it occurred and says that the university's actions at that time were not consistent with the practices enforced today at the university."
* Email from Eric W Kaler - Office of the President to Logan Chelmo hakopee High School, class of 2018(25 June 2018). -> "The dictionary defines 'reprehensible' as 'deserving of rebuke or censure.' And the action taken by our Board in 1970 to rescind Michael McConnell's job offer simply because of who he loved –- and not because of his qualifications as a librarian –- is today worthy of deep criticism . . . of rebuke and censure."
* Letter from Michael McConnell addressed to university president Eric Kaler (25 July 2012).
* Letter from Robert Burgett, Senior Vice President, University of Minnesota Foundation, addressed to Michael McConnell (17 February 2020). 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

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Short documentary

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Further reading

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* 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''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Jack
1942 births
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
Living people
LGBT in Minnesota
LGBT people from Minnesota
American LGBT rights activists
Married couples
Same-sex couples