Mary Bonauto

Mary L. Bonauto is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who has worked to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and has been referred to by US Representative Barney Frank as "our Thurgood Marshall." She began working with the Massachusetts-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, now named GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) organization in 1990. A resident of Portland, Maine, Bonauto was one of the leaders who both worked with the Maine legislature to pass a same-sex marriage law and to defend it at the ballot in a narrow loss during the 2009 election campaign. These efforts were successful when, in the 2012 election, Maine voters approved the measure, making it the first state to allow same-sex marriage licenses via ballot vote. Bonauto is best known for being lead counsel in the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health which made Massachusetts the first state in which same-sex couples could marry in 2004. She is also responsible for leading the first strategic challenges to section three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). ^{Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist}

8 June 1961

Born on the same birth day (8 June): Alexis Smith • Angelo Amato • Byron White • George I Rákóczi • Griffin Dunne • Kanye West • Kenneth G. Wilson • Lauren Burns • Lena Baker • Ray Illingworth • Robert Schumann • Tomaso Albinoni

Born in the same month (June 1961): Aaron Sorkin • Andrés Galarraga • Anthony Burger • Can Dündar • El DeBarge • Joko Widodo • LaSalle Thompson • Lynne Jolitz • Manu Chao • Oz Fox • Ramesh Krishnan • Ricky Gervais • Robbie Kerr (Australian cricketer) • Sharon Lawrence • Werner Günthör • Yevgeny Prigozhin