MORE MASS. CLERKS PLAN TO IGNORE RESIDENCY RULE: From the Boston Globe

[Sorry I didn't keep all the residency-rule stories together! There's another one a few posts down. --Eve]

With the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples just 12 days away, more Massachusetts communities say they will probably defy Governor Mitt Romney's directive to ask same-sex couples for proof of residency when they apply for permission to marry.

Clerks in Northampton and Lowell said yesterday they hope to ignore Romney's instructions. Other clerks said yesterday that they were also considering refusing to ask for proof of residency, but will decide after they attend training sessions on the new procedures, the first of which is slated in Barnstable today.

"I'm pretty angry over the whole thing, that we have to be the residency police," said Northampton Clerk Wendy Mazza, who is seeking an opinion from her city's attorney on the legality of ignoring the governor's directive. "This has never been an issue before. Now all of a sudden, it's an issue. When a couple comes in here, they sign an [oath] that there is no impediment to their marriage, and that's as far as any city clerk should have to take it."

Lowell Clerk Richard C. Johnson said that once gay marriage is legal in the state, beginning May 17, he will not ask gay couples for proof of their Massachusetts residency because he is "trying to treat everyone equally, and presently, we do not ask heterosexual couples whether or not they are residents of Massachusetts." ...

Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston said last weekend that he wishes to defy the new requirement. And Worcester Clerk David J. Rushford has said he will refuse to ask for proof of residency and intends to leave that part of the new marriage license forms blank. ...

Legislation has been filed to repeal the 1913 law. Clerks said yesterday that they expect the residency law to be challenged in court almost immediately.

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posted by Eve at 4:22 PM | Link |

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