I'm just watching a second-series episode of Friends (shown in 1995, but let's ask about the early to mid 90s, rolling Indy-like under the closing door of the 20-year rule, grabbing our hat as we go).
Anyway, Ross's ex-wife Carol announces she's getting married to her girlfriend Susan (who has generally been referred to hitherto in the series as a "life-partner") and, essentially, everyone treats it as if it ain't no thing. About the only person in the episode who is even remotely odd is an 80+ year old woman whose spirit is currently inhabiting Phoebe. That makes a little more sense in context.
Point is, when it aired, I just assumed that gay marriage must be legal in New York and, having seen it again today in the wake of the recent gay marriage debates, it makes me wonder what the situation was back when the episode was made - legally, I assume that it had no force, but how was it seen?
I would say that there was a conscious effort on the part of the writers of the episode to make it seem like no big deal, completely normal. But in reality, it was hotly contested. Sure, in liberal areas like New York City, to many people such things were normal. Many progressive companies were recognizing same-sex domestic partnerships, and several Scandinavian countries recognized gay marriage. I remember a number of gay couples of my acquaintance spoke of themselves as married and had ceremonies, but I also remembered having conversations with them at that time in which they said gay marriage would never be legal in the US. There would have been a lot of objections to the episode as being disgusting. A year after it aired, the Defense of Marriage Act was passed to create one more hurdle to gay marriage legalization.