Mass. Same-Sex 'Marriage' Licenses Limited to Residents of Non-DOMA States
by Fred Jackson, Bill Fancher, and Jody Brown
March 31, 2004
(AgapePress) - The attorney general of Massachusetts says most out-of-state people will not be able to take advantage of a homosexual "marriage" order that takes effect there in mid-May.
Under a ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, homosexual "weddings" become at least temporarily legal in that state on May 17. That ruling takes effect despite the fact the legislature has given preliminary approval to a constitutional amendment that would eventually outlaw homosexual marriages, while authorizing civil unions. But that proposed amendment could not be voted on by the states electorate until at least November 2006.
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly says he will not comply with a request from Governor Mitt Romney to seek a stay to bar same-sex weddings while the amendment issue is hashed out. But answering the out-of-state issue, Reilly says the Bay State will not be granting licenses to homosexual couples who could not legally get married in their home states. Currently 38 states have on their books Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) that define marriage solely as an institution between a man and a woman.
Reilly explains that a 1913 Massachusetts law prevents out-of-staters from getting married here if they are not eligible for marriage in their home state. "In those states ... where same-sex marriage is not lawful, [homosexual couples] are not entitled and cannot be lawfully married here," Reilly told the Boston Globe. "This [court] opinion is rather limited, in terms of Massachusetts residents who are entitled to these rights."
But a Harvard constitutional scholar who supports same-sex marriage predicts legal challenges are sure to result if homosexual couples travel to Massachusetts to obtain a marriage license and are refused. Laurence Tribe says the U.S. Constitution forbids discrimination against any class of citizens -- so officials in Massachusetts, he says, may be compelled to ignore the DOMA laws of other states.
Reaction Regarding Compromise
Meanwhile, there is more criticism of the Bay State's lawmakers decision to propose a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages but also legalize homosexual civil unions. Tony Nassif of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation is one conservative who does not want any compromise on the issue of marriage and allowing homosexuals to redefine it.
"Gay marriage by any other name is still gay marriage," he says. "This is a slippery slope. It's dangerous because it will officially recognize that gay marriage, otherwise known as 'civil union,' is bona fide and acceptable in American public life and public policy."
The Cedars spokesman points out that research shows that regardless what label is attached to it, homosexual marriage is a bad thing for children. "It will confuse them because no man can teach a girl how to be a woman and no woman can teach a boy how to be a man," he says, adding that such relationships are simply contrary to the natural order of the sexes.
Nassif adds that homosexual marriage, no matter what it is called, is contrary to the Christian beliefs upon which America was founded.
But interestingly, a leading conservative voice says the Massachusetts compromise in the battle over same-sex marriage may be just the thing needed to get the Federal Marriage Amendment passed. Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation feels that unless the federal amendment allows for legalized civil unions which carry the identical benefits and rights of traditional marriage, it probably will not pass.
"In my opinion, if you try to force that issue [a ban on civil unions] down the throats of state legislators, even a lot of people who would normally be with us will vote against such an amendment," Weyrich says. "You have to have the ability, at least, of state legislatures to pass this if they want. Now, if they do, you go in and clean house."
The conservative icon points out that is what happened in Vermont, which legalized civil unions in July 2000. Now pro-family forces control the legislature's lower house for the first time in 30 years -- and a family-friendly governor holds office in Montpelier.
Interested, Involved Teens
Associated Press reports that 17 Christian home schoolers have returned home after almost a week of lobbying in Boston for the state constitutional ban on homosexual marriage. Emily Echols -- a 15-year-old from Georgia -- says she and her fellow teens worked a phone bank, distributed literature to legislators, and debated the marriage issue with homosexuals and their supporters outside the Massachusetts State House. But she considers the amendment that was passed "a meager victory" since it also would legalize civil unions.
Echols' father Tim is president and founder of TeenPact, which teaches Christian home schoolers about the political process and how to get involved. She says that is important, because what is happening can change the culture in which today's teens will someday raise their own families.