MassEquality.org

Equality In The News

Jul 10, 2008

Help us Repeal the 1913 Law

MassEquality Staff

It's time to put an end to a final strand of marriage discrimination in our Commonwealth: the discriminatory 1913 law that bars out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying here.

The Massachusetts Legislature is planning to take up legislation repealing this outdated law as early as next week.This is the result of intensive lobbying work we've done -- in partnership with the lead Senate champion of the bill, Dianne Wilkerson -- as well as the recent events in California.

Please take action to make sure this bill passes by contacting your legislators today to ask them to repeal the 1913 law.

In 2004, Gov. Mitt Romney applied this arcane law, the so-called "1913 Law," to keep out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts. The law, in fact, was rooted in discrimination: it was enacted to limit the number of interracial marriages that could be performed here by stating that if it were disallowed by the home state, a couple could not be married in the Commonwealth. Romney, a staunch and vocal opponent of marriage equality, turned to that statute, which had not been used for decades, to reject out-of-state gay and lesbian couples.

The recent decision in favor of marriage equality in California, which has no similar law barring out-of-state couples, makes this all the more urgent. We should be encouraging committed couples to come to our state -- the first in the nation to have marriage equality -- to marry, not turning them away at the border.

Click here to send your legislators an email asking them to repeal the 1913 law.

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