The prohibition of gay marriage was issued on May 17, 2004 (March 29, 2004) and homosexual marriage was legalized in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the state¡¯s ruling to only allow heterosexual couples to marry and prohibit same-sex marriage violated the Maastricht Constitution. The ruling made Massachusetts the sixth jurisdiction in the world to recognize same-sex marriage and was the first state in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage. On November 18, 2003, the state¡¯s seven highest judges ruled in the Maastricht State Department on the same-sex marriage in 2002, with a 4 to 3-vote ruling that the state¡¯s ruling was not sufficient for banning same-sex marriage, and that the current Marriage Act did not violate the Constitution¡¯s highest