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No Massachusetts marriages for out-of-state gays

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 12:16 CST

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - Gay couples from American states that ban same-sex marriages cannot legally be wed in Massachusetts where such unions are legal, the state's highest court ruled on Thursday.

The ruling was made in response to a lawsuit filed by gay couples from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, which prohibit same-sex marriage. It appeared to end the prospect that the liberal New England state could become a U.S. destination for gay couples to marry.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts made its ruling after Republican Gov. Mitt Romney had ordered local authorities to refuse applications from gays to be wed in Massachusetts because they resided outside the state.

"This is an important victory for those of us who wanted to preserve traditional marriage and to make sure that the mistake of Massachusetts doesn't become the mistake of the entire country," Romney told reporters after the decision.

"We did not want Massachusetts to become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage," he said.

Those couples who sued had sought to be married in Massachusetts after it became the first U.S. state to recognize such marriages in 2004. The issue has produced a divisive, national debate over such unions.

Still, Thursday's ruling left the door open for some plaintiffs in the case -- couples from New York and Rhode Island. The court ordered a lower-court judge to determine whether gay marriages are prohibited in those states because of cases pending.

New York state's highest court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of banning same-sex marriage on May 31. In Rhode Island, lawmakers have introduced proposals to legalize same-sex unions.

Thursday's decision does not affect the rights of Massachusetts residents, although opponents of gay marriages are seeking other avenues to stop such unions.

The case was focused on an obscure law passed in 1913 that bars out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their own states fail to recognize the union.

After Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, Romney ordered town clerks to invoke that statute. That forced town clerks to rebuff hundreds of marriage applications from gay and lesbian couples from out of state.

Source: REUTERS

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