I get the feeling this isn't a permanent obstacle
Gay couples from out-of-state may not be able to marry in Mass.
3/7/2004
BOSTON -- Hundreds of same-sex couples from out-of-state may not be able to get married in Massachusetts because of a 1913 law that has been little noticed until recently.
Town clerks have sought legal guidance from the attorney general and the governor on the law, but so far haven't received any, the Boston Sunday Globe reported.
The law forbids town clerks to issue marriage licenses "if such marriage would be void if contracted" in the couple's home state.
Thirty-eight states have so-called "Defense of Marriage" laws on the books that ban same-sex marriages. And no states officially sanction gay marriage, though individual officials in various states have decided recently to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples.
"Even Vermont only has civil unions," said Linda Hutchenrider, president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks' Association and the town clerk of Barnstable. "As the law is written now, anyone outside the jurisdiction who cannot be married legally there can't be married here. That might be all 50 states."
The clerks' association asked Attorney General Thomas Reilly on Feb. 24 for a legal opinion on the law, but a lawyer in Reilly's office responded that the association wasn't in a position to ask for a formal legal opinion.
Only state officials, district attorneys and the Legislature can ask for such opinions, the lawyer wrote.
