The 1913 law prevents Massachusetts from sanctioning marriages that are not legal in the state where the couple lives and was enacted in part to prevent interracial couples from evading their own state's ban by traveling to Massachusetts to marry. It was a little-used and rarely enforced law until opponents used it to prevent out-of-state gay couples from getting married in Massachusetts after the state legalized same-sex marriage in 2004.

"There are very few laws on the books that I can say that I'm ashamed that they're on the books," said State Senator Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. He said he opposed the law because of the "immorality of discrimination."

"This is a very simple law, contrived in shame, and it exists in shame and we ought to wipe it off the books," he said.

"The 1913 law is a shadow, a terrible shadow. It represents a segregationist past that is best put to rest and put to rest quickly," said Senator Harriette Chandler, a Worcester Democrat.

"This is extraordinarily significant," said Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. "If we get the 1913 law repealed, it brings us one very important step closer to full equality."

"We are going to win this easily. It is not going to be a very difficult fight. People have gotten more and more used to same-sex marriage in the state. People who were once afraid of it or opposed to it find it either not something to fear or they just don't care because it has not affected their lives in a negative way at all," Isaacson said.

Last update: 01-29-2009 20:39

Posted by B.K. Wright, on 07-24-2008 15:03, 1. Beau to Beau books and cards Same-sex marriage should be regarded as simply "marriage" and not set apart. I'm glad to hear the good news, but I would like to see more. Same-sex marriage is the same as hetero marriage - the coming together of two people and two lives of two people who love each other.   » Report this comment to administrator