- Dick Wagner: People who had decided
to lead their authentic lives in Wisconsin
had a sense that there were possibilities,
[cheering]
including making marriage equality a national reality.
- Patrick Farabaugh: Before marriage equality
became a big national movement,
one of the first places
to actually challenge for the right to marry
was Milwaukee in the '70s.
[disco music]
- In 1971,
Milwaukee natives Donna Burkett and Manonia Evans
went to the county clerk's office
to apply for a marriage license.
The young lesbian couple was promptly denied.
- Reporter: When did you decide to take these steps,
and how did you come about that decision?
- Manonia Evans: Well, we decided this summer
that we would like to get married,
and there shouldn't be any reason
why we shouldn't be able to get a license.
- A preacher's daughter,
Manonia Evans was a junior in college
when she met housing rights activist Donna Burkett
in a gay bar in Milwaukee's north side.
Two years later, they would make history.
- Kristen Whitson: The act of
applying for a marriage license as two women
got a lot of media attention.
- Jet magazine ran a feature on the young Milwaukee couple.
Their story was also picked up
by lesbian and gay publications
from around the country.
- Patrick Farabaugh: They were at the front of the movement
at that period in time.
- Dick Wagner: The couple
was willing to be public about their wish to be married,
which was significant.
- Kristen Whitson: It really was a big part of the public understanding
of what same-sex couples wanted,
which was really just what everybody else had.
- Radio Host: Donna and Manonia,
welcome to Gay Perspective.
And we welcome you to our program to express your views.
- Manonia Evans: We're people just like anybody else.
And we have feelings, too.
- Donna Burkett: I love her, and I don't care who knows.
It's not something that I want to hide.
Love is not meant to be hidden,
and I won't hide it.
- Patrick Farabaugh: Donna Burkett was like, "Yeah, well,
"that's what you do when you love somebody.
You go, and you marry them."
- Dick Wagner: She felt that she had this right
and that she wasn't about to accept being denied it.
- Burkett and Evans challenged for the right to marry.
They filed a federal lawsuit
on the grounds that the denial of marital benefits
did not afford the couple equal protection
under the Constitution,
a legal argument ahead of its time.
- Donna Burkett: They shouldn't have any laws
on who you can marry
or who you can't marry.
That's none of their business.
If we're living together, we're sharing our money,
then we should have some protection.
- Kristen Whitson: Donna and Manonia said
that they felt they were missing out on tax benefits
by not being allowed to marry,
which is true.
That was a significant part of the fight for marriage equality
was to have the same civil rights
that every other married couple had.
- The young couple's visionary legal challenge
regarding marital benefits
was a predecessor for legalizing same-sex marriage nationally
44 years later in 2015.
[cheering]
A landmark civil rights case
granting equal protection to same-sex couples.
And though Burkett and Evans' lawsuit
was eventually dismissed on technical grounds,
and the couple was refused a legal marriage,
their love for each other would not be denied.
- Reporter: Whether or not they obtain a marriage license,
they will be married
Christmas Day at St. Nicholas Church in Milwaukee.
[cheering]
- Pastor: Well, God loves all people.
Here are two people,
and He blesses their love for each other.
And so, that's what His church is about
is blessing this union, which is sacred of itself.
- Burkett and Evans' story
would ultimately draw national attention
to marriage equality,
making a statement not only about love,
but also a statement about civil rights for LGBTQ+ people.
- Kristen Whitson: Queer people who have had to struggle
with fewer rights than their heterosexual counterparts
had never thought of even trying to apply for a marriage license
before they read about Donna and Manonia trying to do it.
And that was an idea planted in their heads
as something that they could fight for in the future.
- Dick Wagner: It was something
that would have been unthinkable before Stonewall.
- Manonia Evans: We want more out of life.
This is something really worth fighting for.
[delicate piano]