Massachusetts high court to review law that bars nonresident couples from marriage

The court that paved the way for Massachusetts to become the first state to legalize same-sex marriage will now decide whether gay and lesbian couples from other states can marry there. The case is being closely watched across the country because if the supreme judicial court strikes down a 1913 law that bars out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would be prohibited in their home state, gay and lesbian couples from across the country could go to Massachusetts to wed and demand marriage rights at home. Eight gay couples from surrounding states, all of whom were denied marriage licenses in Massachusetts, are challenging the law.

Michele Granda, a lawyer for the couples, argued before the high court Thursday that the 1913 law "sat on the shelf" unused for decades until it was "dusted off" by Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Granda said the high court, in its historic ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, found that under the Massachusetts constitution, same-sex couples had the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. "Nothing in [that ruling] says that our officials can discriminate simply because officials in other states discriminate," Granda told the six-judge panel.

Attorneys for the state argued that the law is being enforced in an evenhanded way for both heterosexual and same-sex couples. Assistant attorney general Peter Sacks said Massachusetts risks a "backlash" if it flouts the laws of others states by marrying gay couples from states that prohibit it. "We've got respect for other states' laws," he said.

The high court is expected to issue a ruling in the next few months. The eight couples who sued are from Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and New York. They include Sandi and Bobbi Cote-Whitacre of Essex Junction, Vt., who have a recognized civil union in their home state but want to marry.

"The civil union gave us state benefits, but we grew up believing that you find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with and you get married," Sandi said. "In reality, after 38 years I'm her wife and she's mine. We want the document."

After same-sex marriage became legal in the state in May 2004, Romney ordered city and town clerks to enforce the 1913 law and wrote to every other governor in the nation that out-of-state gay couples would not be allowed to marry in Massachusetts. A few communities initially defied the governor but eventually complied. (AP)