Even when they get w…

Even when they get what they want, they still can’t implement it fairly.

BOSTON — The Romney administration has demanded copies of all marriage applications issued to gay couples in Provincetown, Somerville, Springfield and Worcester _ four municipalities that openly defied the governor’s residency requirement for same-sex marriages.
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After several unsuccessful attempts to delay Monday’s court-ordered legalization of gay marriage, Gov. Mitt Romney informed city and town clerks that a 1913 statute barred them from issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state residents who have no plans to move to Massachusetts.

But clerks in Provincetown, Worcester, Springfield and Somerville said publicly that they would issue licenses to all comers, regardless of where they lived, as long as they signed a form attesting that there was no known legal impediment to their union.

Ignorance is no excuse…usually. And this report also demonstrates that leaving it up to the states in this matter may create even more problems.

Many of the nonresident couples who came to get their marriage documents returned home Tuesday to inevitable legal battles in their own states. Those who have no intention of moving here face the possibility that their state governments will refuse to recognize their union, and Massachusetts itself could nullify their license, as Romney has promised.

Gay rights advocates in neighboring New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island _ home to many of the gay couples who married in Massachusetts on Monday _ said they hope legal action is not necessary, but acknowledged it may be inevitable.

“It’s America in 2004. I think legal action is guaranteed,” said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal. “It’s going to take the legal system and the political system quite some time to work this all out.”

Mr. Cathcart, legal action is guaranteed not because of what year it is, but because of the way this “law” was put into place. When the judiciary overrides the will of the governed, this is what you get. No surprises here. Thanks for your support of legal chaos.

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