And another one bites the dust! Today, in a somewhat expected vote, the State Senate of Massachusetts has voted to repeal a 1913 law that bars any couple from getting married if that marriage is not legal in their home state. This law entered the books to prevent black and interracial couples from surrounding states, whose laws prohibited them from legally marrying, from obtaining a marriage in the state of Massachusetts. The legal minds of that time didn't want to offend their neighboring states with their progressive views and knew that any marriage performed legally in the state of Massachusetts would have to be recognized by the couples home state under the Full Faith and Credit amendment of the United States Constitution. Sounding familiar?
What this will eventually do is open the doors to same-sex couples nation wide to obtain a legal marriage in the state of Massachusetts (and California assuming their State Constitution is not amended by a vote of the people this November) and then sue their home states for recognition under Full Faith and Credit. It is still a long road to full marriage equality across the country but this places us one small step closer. The days of living with DOMA (Defense Of Marriage Act signed into law by President Clinton) hanging over our heads have just become numbered. Unfortunately that number is still a rather large one for now, but DOMA will be repealed eventually.
Link to full article HERE
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