MA House Repeals Non-resident Marriage Ban

July 30, 2008

BOSTON, MA—The Massachusetts House yesterday repealed a 1913 law used to bar the marriages of same-sex couples who are residents of states which would not recognize their unions. The measure already has passed the Senate and Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has said he will sign it.

The House voted 118-35 Tuesday to repeal the law, originally passed when interracial marriage was legal in Massachusetts but not in most other parts of the country.

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state bans on interracial marriage, the Massachusetts law fell into disuse.

However, when the Massachusetts high court struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage in 2003, then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) dusted off the old law, threatening to charge local clerks if they issued marriage licenses to out-of-state same-sex couples.

In a 2006 challenge to the out-of-state ban, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the law, but noted that since Rhode Island did not have a specific law defining “couple” in its marriage law, gays and lesbians from that state could marry in Massachusetts.  Rhode Island is believed to be the only state without a definition of what constitutes a couple.

The court also said that the Massachusetts legislature could repeal the 1913 law.

An analysis by the state Office of Housing and Economic Development found repealing the law would draw thousands of couples to Massachusetts, boosting the economy by $111 million, creating 330 jobs and generating $5 million in taxes and fees over three years.

The study assumes New York would provide the largest number of gay couples - more than 21,000 couples - with New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine bringing the total to more than 30,000 in the first three years after the ban was lifted.

California, the only other state to allow same-sex marriage, has no out-of-state limitation.

Despite a February 2007 opinion by then-Attorney General (now NJ Supreme Court Chief Justice) Stuart Rabner that a Massachusetts marriage should be treated as a civil union, New Jersey, like New York, has no prohibition against out-of-state same-sex marriages. Thus, New Jersey couples can marry in Massachusetts.

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