News
2005-10-08
Massachusetts
high court to review law that bars nonresident couples from
marriage
Massachusetts law
that bars out-of-state gay couples from marrying to be
reviewed
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)
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