Gov. Patrick opens equal marriage to out of state couples
It’s official. Gay couples from outside the state are free to marry in Massachusetts.
Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill formally repealing a discriminatory 1913 law that barred couples from marrying in Massachusetts if the union would not be recognized in their home state. Originally used to discriminate against interracial marriages, the law resurfaced when then-Governor Mitt Romney used it to prevent out of state same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts.
“In five years now, … the sky has not fallen, the earth has not opened to swallow us all up, and more to the point, thousands and thousands of good people – contributing members of society – are able to make free decisions about their personal futures, and we ought to seek to affirm that every chance we can,” said Patrick.
The bill cleared both the State House and Senate with overwhelming support. Proponents of the bill said the timing was right, since California had already proven that out of state marriages would only help the state’s economic status.
Openly lesbian Rep. Sarah Peake claimed that the House debate, which took place on Tuesday, was fairly mild in comparison to the highly controversial 2004 debate over legislation calling for equal marriage in Massachusetts.
“It was striking how sort of ho-hum and of-course-this-is-how-we-need-to-vote it was,” Peake said. “We have been living and thriving with marriage equality since 2004.”
The Boston Herald reports:
Out-of-state gay couples can marry as soon as today, since lawmakers included a provision to make the repeal go into effect immediately.
In Massachusetts, there is a standard three-day waiting period after applying for a license, but any couple can petition a court for a waiver – something gay couples in-state did by the hundreds when the first legal gay marriages in the nation were performed in May 2004.
“We’re being recognized as a married couple,” said Joy Spring, of Middletown, N.Y., who planned to marry her partner of seven years, Carla Barbano, in Provincetown on Friday.
Their 11-year-old daughter, Lizzy, will exchange rings with the couple at the wedding.
“It’s extremely important,” Spring said. “If something happened to one of us she’d always be taken care of.”
Patrick, the state’s first black governor, said he was proud to supported repeal of the law, which he said had its roots in racism. It was first passed 95 years ago as states tried to prevent interracial marriages.
He said the repeal shows that in Massachusetts, “equal means equal.”
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