Mass. curb to gay marriage may end

The Massachusetts Senate voted yesterday to repeal an obscure 1913 law that has been used to keep out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying there.

Legislators in the state House in Boston are expected to take similar action today, and Gov. Deval Patrick has promised to sign the repeal. The move could allow gays and lesbians from other states to marry in Massachusetts within weeks.

Massachusetts in 2004 became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. But then-Gov. Mitt Romney invoked the 1913 law, which opponents said had originally been used to block interracial unions. The law barred out-of-state couples from obtaining licenses if their marriages would not be legally recognized in their home states.

In May, California became the second state to legalize same-sex marriage, following a state Supreme Court ruling.

Those who fought to repeal Massachusetts' 1913 statute said yesterday that the move - coupled with the California Supreme Court decision - could amplify political momentum nationwide. Hundreds of same-sex couples have wed in California since June 16, when local jurisdictions began accepting civil marriage applications.

"The California ruling was a wake-up call for Massachusetts," said Marc Solomon, executive director of MassEquality, a coalition backing same-sex unions. "We had to remove the last vestige of marriage discrimination on the books here."

The repeal was opposed by the Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that said the 1913 marriage law legitimately upheld the authority of states to define marriage.

A study commissioned by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development predicted that marriages of gay couples from New York and other Northeast states could mean as much as $37 million in revenues for the state each year for the next three years - and nearly $2 million a year in taxes.