This means that - effective immediately - same-sex couples from all 50 states can marry in Massachusetts. Massachusetts legalized gay marriages in 2004 but a little known law - originally put in place to prevent interracial marriages - blocked same-sex couples from states that did not allow gay marriages from marrying in the state.

"We're being recognized as a married couple," said Joy Spring, of Middletown, N.Y., who planned to marry her partner of seven years, Carla Barbano, in Provincetown on Friday.

Their 11-year-old daughter, Lizzy, will exchange rings with the couple at the wedding.

"It's extremely important," Spring said. "If something happened to one of us she'd always be taken care of."

"In five years now, ... the sky has not fallen, the earth has not opened to swallow us all up, and more to the point, thousands and thousands of good people - contributing members of our society - are able to make free decisions about their personal future, and we ought to seek to affirm that every chance we can," said Governor Deval Patrick, who has a lesbian daughter.

Last update: 01-29-2009 20:17