MASS. ATTY. GENERAL SAYS STATE LAW LIMITS SSM: From the New York Times

Same-sex couples living in states where laws ban gay marriage will not be able to marry in Massachusetts, the state's attorney general said Tuesday.

Although a court has ordered that gay and lesbian couples can begin marrying in Massachusetts on May 17, Attorney General Thomas Reilly said an obscure 1913 state law prevents the state from issuing marriage licenses to couples who are not eligible to be married in their home states.

"I think there's at least 38 states which do not recognize same-sex marriage," Reilly said, referring to the 38 states with laws defining marriage as a heterosexual institution.

He said Massachusetts should give a list of those states to town clerks so that they can refuse marriage licenses to people residing there.

Reilly's interpretation of the law could thwart the plans of couples around the country who had been planning to get married in Massachusetts once such unions became legal.

Mary Bonauto, a lawyer for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the group that won the Massachusetts case legalizing gay marriage, said that she believed that residents from some of the 38 states might be eligible because only those states whose laws declared same-sex marriages void would directly contradict the Massachusetts statute.

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posted by Eve at 5:37 PM | link

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