LAW CURBING OUT-OF-STATE COUPLES FACES A CHALLENGE: From the Boston Globe

State lawmakers will fire the latest salvo in the battle over gay marriage today, as Representative Robert P. Spellane of Worcester files a bill to undo a 1913 law that forbids out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home jurisdiction.

The law has garnered unprecedented attention in recent weeks, as the days wind down before a landmark Supreme Judicial Court ruling that legalized gay marriages goes into effect May 17. ...

Spellane hopes to sidestep that work, saying that the 1913 law is not only discriminatory, but violates the SJC's Nov. 18 ruling that banned the exclusion of gay and lesbian couples from the rights and benefits of civil marriage. ...

The law, which was adopted in only five states (Louisiana, which later repealed it, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, and Wisconsin), was in part intended to uphold laws in other states that barred interracial marriages. ...

In a footnote in one of the opinions written by the four SJC justices who formed the majority in the gay marriage ruling, Justice John M. Greaney suggested that out-of-staters will not be able to get married in Massachusetts.

"The argument, made by some in the case, that legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts will be used by persons in other states as a tool to obtain recognition of a marriage in their state that is otherwise unlawful is precluded," the footnote said.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said he, too, read the 1913 law as precluding same-sex couples from marrying in the Commonwealth if they reside in one of the 38 states that has passed a ban on gay marriage.

It remains unclear what chances Spellane's bill has of passage, especially since the Legislature is about to take on the task of passing a budget during a fiscal crisis.

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posted by Eve at 2:19 PM | link

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