Mass. High Court To Hear Out-Of-State Gay Marriage Appeal

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/10/100405massAppeal.htm

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear a challenge Thursday to the state's ban on out-of-state same-sex couples marrying in the Commonwealth.

After the high court ruled on May 17, 2004 that it was unconstitutional for the state to deny same-sex couples the right to marry Gov. Mitt Romney dusted off a 1913 law that says marriage licenses cannot be issued to people who reside in states where those marriages would not be legal.

The law was written when most states did not recognize interracial marriage. After the US Supreme Court ruled that laws barring interracial couples from marrying was illegal the Massachusetts statute fell into disuse.