Researchers also acknowledge that high-levels of stress can be maintained even after a distressful event has passed. This is common in victims of highly traumatic events, such as surviving a war, natural disasters, or violent assaults; they may carry a heightened risk of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that the state constitution gives gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, making the Bay State the first in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Weddings begin in 2004.
The rapid rise of legal same-sex marriage. Most of the states where same-sex marriage is legal came after the Supreme Court overturned a key portion of the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013. Judges across the country decided the reasoning of the ruling meant that state bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional.