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Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Residents of Lynn from 1978 to 1990, Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd became in May 2004 the first same-sex couple in the United States to apply for and receive a marriage license. Marcia, born in 1947 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was raised in a middle-class family where she was the eldest of three children. She would graduate from Scottsdale High School, Pomona College, and receive her MA from Boston University. Born in 1952, Susan Shepherd was raised by her mother in a Polish enclave in South Boston while living with her grandmother and uncle. They are graduates of St. Joseph Academy, Northeastern, and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. They met while working at the General Electric Plant in Lynn, where they led unionization efforts for workers’ rights and removing discrimination against female employees. They each speak fondly of their time in Lynn, a place of remarkable tolerance and diversity, where they raised their son Peter and became accepted community members. Their joint interview from January 2024 discusses their individual life trajectories, feminism, labor unions, activism, marriage equality, and LGBTQ+ parenting.

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Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Duration

1:08:06

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My mother had a good union job.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

My mother was disillusioned with the Episcopal Church.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

My mother stood up to bussing bullies.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I was radicalized by the Unitarian Universalist church.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

It would be frightening to be a lesbian.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Girls liked to experiment.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I didn't associate experimenting with being a lesbian.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I wanted to make a difference that mattered.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

They're hiring women in the apprentice program.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Here's how we met.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Let's have a baby.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

We weren't pretending, but also not saying gay.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Gay people were losing their kids.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

We were the first legal same-sex marriage.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

5,000 people and a party at City Hall.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Frankly, the whole country is at risk.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

The bars were a place to organize. Copy

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

We were not religious but went to church.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Everybody came to Granny's house on Sunday.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I was in a white neighborhood.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I didn't come out until I was 24.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Disappointed I wouldn't grow to be a boy.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Family not interested in my sexuality.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Stonewall looked like fun to me.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

We worked on a big comparable worth case.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Apprentices were first black people at GE.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I pulled together a women's committee.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

A neighborhood with a million kids.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

We avoided a home visit by social worker.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Gay people were losing their kids. Copy

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

We were in it together as a family.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

I'm optimistic even with the backlash against LGBTQ.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

The bars were a place to organize.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

Come together and fight as a community.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd

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