This week’s big story was that the Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court upheld the 1913 law forbidding non-residents to marry in Massachusetts if their home states do not permit them to marry. The law was originally intended to prohibit interracial marriages. Governor Mitt Romney applauded the ruling, saying “We don’t want Massachusetts to become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage.” Hmm. According to one source, weddings are the #2 source of income for Las Vegas after gambling. Maybe Romney is afraid of being innundated with scores of Liza Minelli impersonators.
The Unbelievably Heinous Story of the Week award goes to the state of Virginia, which had forced a gay dad and his partner to live apart for four years so the bio dad could maintain visitation rights with his then nine-year-old son. Luckily, the story ends well, with the state of Maryland (where the dads now live) reversing the order. Abigail Garner has said pretty much everything I could think of saying about this, so I’ll just refer you to her site for more.
In California, a federal judge tossed out a suit brought by the Log Cabin Republicans against the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy,” asserting the organization had no standing to sue as an association unless one or more of its members had standing to sue as individuals. In federal court in Boston last summer, the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Fund argued a separate suit against “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” with named plaintiffs. They are awaiting a ruling.