Provincetown Halts Non-resident Marriages; Others Continue

May 26, 2004

Provincetown Wednesday put the brakes on issuing marriage licenses to gay couples from outside Massachusetts.

Tuesday night in a closed door meeting with the town's lawyer Selectmen voted to temporarily suspend issuing marriage license forms to out-of-state couples.

The move follows similar decisions Monday by three other communities which were also defying Gov. Mitt Romney's ban on allowing gays from outside the Commonwealth from marrying in Massachusetts.

Romney is relying on a 1913 law that says it is illegal to grant licenses to couples whose marriages would be illegal in their home states.

Friday Attorney General Thomas Reilly Friday issued a notice to the dissident towns reminding them of Romney's direction.

We firmly believe that it is unlawful and unconstitutional to deny out-of-state same-sex couples the right to marry in Massachusetts, said Provincetown Board of Selectmen Chair Dr. Cheryl Andrews, who married her partner shortly after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts May 17.

The Governor's last minute policy change reverses decades of practice welcoming out-of-state couples to Massachusetts who wish to marry to here.

But, while Reilly sent his warning to Provincetown, Worcester, Somerville and Springfield he did not contact two other communities still granting licenses to out-of-state gay couples.

The clerk of Attleboro is issuing licenses to same-sex couples from the 11 states that have not adopted so-called Defense of Marriage Acts that bar same-sex weddings.

Fall River is granting licenses to qualified applicants no matter what state they reside in.

On another front Wednesday a conservative Democrat has filed a bill in the Massachusetts legislature to remove Supreme Judicial Court Justice Margaret Marshall from the bench.

Rep. Philip Travis (D-Rehoboth) blames Marshall for the decision that paved the way for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Travis told reporters at the State House that he believes Marshall had already made up her mind before hearing the case and pressured other justices to go along with her decision.