After Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2003, a flood of same-sex couples inundated the state to get married. However, a little-known 1913 law bars the Commonwealth from recognizing a marriage not recognized out of state.
What should be pointed out is that the 1913 law was originally used to stop interracial marriages. We find it ironic that a law used to discriminate based on race is now being used to discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican who is toying with running for president in 2008, sought measures to limit the scope of marriage rights.
Invoking the 1913 law has led to confusion about what to do with the 6,000 marriages, especially those that happened after legalization, but before the new limits.
New York for example has no law dealing with same-sex marriages. The Empire State has had many couples married in Massachusetts, and is in the same quandry as those from Mass.
The issue is festering into a states' rights issue since marriage is at the state level. What will happen from here remains to be seen, but we would like to see the rights of all Americans looked out
for.
