Breaking news as of 3PM, and perhaps a bigger news item in the dear ol' Commonwealth than the nation at large, but nonetheless.
http://www.boston.com/...
As this has the support of Governor Deval Patrick, this vote may clear the way for gay couples from other states to have marriages performed in Massachusetts that are legally recognized by the Commonwealth, which I imagine will have interesting repercussions when couples head back to Maine, or Arkansas, or Tennessee, or wherever else, and perhaps add another element to the debate.
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This 1913 law has an infamous history and I'm glad to see it go.
While in the 1910s interracial marriage was legal in Massachusetts, this law was enacted as something of a compromise of sorts with states that did not allow such marriages. In other words, if an interracial couple from Virginia hoped to get hitched in Massachusetts and then move back to Virginia, this law said such marriages could not be legally performed in the state.
The law itself did not have this sort of racial language in it, but rather was more vaguely worded, saying more or less that marriages illegal in other states would not be legally performed and recognized for "citizens" of such states in Massachusetts.
While I must admit to my ignorance on whether or not California has any such sad little hiccup in their now legally recognized gay marriages in terms of citizens of other states, I'm certainly happy to see this archaic and dare I say, even evil law fall by the wayside.
What other states will have to say about it is a question unto itself. I do wonder, with some fear, if this will at all intensify the debate of constitutional amendments. That being said, I really, truly, do not believe such an amendment could actually pass anymore. Perhaps I'm being naive. In any event, as slowly as we're moving towards this particular civil right, I think we're inching in the right direction.