Boston Globe: Court: gay couples from R.I. can marry in Mass.
Tom Dempsey
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
In a significant victory for gay rights advocates, a Superior Court
judge ruled today that a lesbian couple from Rhode Island may wed in
Massachusetts, finding that Rhode Island’s laws do not explicitly
prohibit same-sex marriages.
The ruling by Judge Thomas Connolly is the first to find that same-sex
couples from outside Massachusetts may wed under the Supreme Judicial
Court's 2003 ruling that legalized same-sex weddings in the Bay State.
Wendy Becker and Mary Norton of Providence, R.I., had argued in court
that a 1913 law that forbids out-of-state residents from marrying in
Massachusetts did not apply to them because Rhode Island does not
specifically ban gay marriage.
In a 9-page ruling, Connolly agreed with the couple.
"No evidence was introduced before this court of a constitutional
amendment, statute, or controlling appellate decision from Rhode Island
that explicitly deems void or otherwise expressly forbids same-sex
marriage," he wrote.
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, who had defended the 1913 law in
court, said officials in Rhode Island could challenge the decision, but
said his office would not appeal.
"In Massachusetts," Reilly said in a statement, "pursuing this matter
further in the courts would be a waste of time and resources."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/09/court_gay_coupl.html