Thursday, March 31, 2005

Nutmeg Limbo

In Connecticut, a lesbian couple married in Massachusetts cannot divorce at home, according to Hartford Superior Court Judge Linda Pearce Prestley. At last, we have an example of the confusion possible with same-sex marriages. Lackaday and however, this is caused not by the type of marriage per se, but the gap in the full-faith-and-credit strictures.

In her 10-page decision issued March 18th and covered in the March 31st Connecticut Law Tribune, Prestley noted that the problems were:
· The women were Connecticut residents when they married in Massachusetts.
· Connecticut did not and does not recognize same-sex marriages.
· Massachusetts has a law that reads that marrrages illegal in the residents’ states cannot be solemnized in Massachusetts.

The short of it is that Prestly would not divorce them. That would amount to recognizing the marriage in Connecticut.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island, touching both other states, intends to recognize Massachusetts same-sex marriages as it would any other from the commonwealth. Legal is legal and full faith and credit means honoring the other states’ contracts.

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