MA folks: repealing the 1913 anti-marriage law

[topaz]

Thanks to mizarchivist for reminding me about this.  The MA state senate is voting today on whether to repeal the 1913 anti-miscegenation law.  Folks, please let your state senator know that you oppose this law and want to see it repealed (use the MA Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus's contact tool for maximum convenience).

In 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state must allow same-sex couples to marry, marriage opponents dredged up a 1913 law that prohibits out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriages would be illegal in their home state.  The original law was passed to prohibit interracial couples from marrying, of course, was all but forgotten by this time and should have been repealed decades ago, but that didn't stop Mitt Romney and Tom Finneran from using it to its most shameful effect here.  Help put an end to it.

Comments

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

a 1913 law that prohibits out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriages would be illegal in their home state.

Just so's everyone knows, the end result (marriage is invalid) is the default Family Law position with or without such a statute. A couple who cannot marry in their state of residence, who travel to another state to get married, will likely not have their state of residence recognize the marriage if such a marriage is against the strong public policy of their state of residence. I.e., repealing it will have no effect on many or even most other states. The key cases on this subject involve not miscegenation, but first-cousin marriages.

But it's still a law that should be got rid of.

[kcatalyst.livejournal.com]

I'm super not a lawyer, but that doesn't seem quite true to me. The law barred them from getting a license at all, correct? It seems like a different situation having a documented marriage that your state refuses to acknowledge vs. not having one at all.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

That's my understanding as well. It's true that if you get married in state A, only to find that your home state B refuses to recognize your marriage, then the end result is the same: you're not married there. And undoubtedly a lot of states will argue exactly that, and many if not most of them will succeed. But the question at hand is whether Massachusetts should issue a license at all, and speaking as a Massachusetts resident, I really don't want my state trying to implement the public policy of Idaho or Nebraska. That's their business, not ours.

[beowabbit]

Thanks, and thanks for the link for lazy people!

[psongster.livejournal.com]

Do you know whether the representatives have already voted on this, or whether they will in the future?

My senator is, alas, not voting ... I think he's still in McLean Hospital ...

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Word. I wrote some political letters last Friday, and this was one of the topics.

[kcatalyst.livejournal.com]

Senate voted to repeal! Woo!

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

Looks like you won! Congrats!