Gay marriage is the Hotel California of relationships — you can check out, but you can never leave:
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—A lesbian couple who married in Massachusetts cannot get divorced in their home state of Rhode Island, the state’s highest court ruled Friday in a setback to gay rights advocates who sought greater recognition for same-sex relationships.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, said the family court lacks the authority to grant a divorce because state lawmakers have not defined marriage as anything other than between a man and a woman.
There is a residency requirement in Massachusetts, so they can’t get divorced there, either. Broken-record time: This issue will be resolved by the Supreme Court when it decides whether gay marriages authorized by some states must be recognized by all states under the full-faith-and-credit clause of the Constitution. I write a lot about the court usurping legislative functions and writing de facto national laws for what should be state and local prerogatives, but this is an issue it has a legitimate role in defining.
It the vote were today, it would likely be a four-four deadlock, with Anthony Kennedy casting the deciding vote. But there isn’t such a case in the court’s present term. What kind of justices would your presidential choice nominate? There is likely to be one or two vacancies within the next four years.
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December 11, 2007 at 11:01 am and is filed under Politics and other nightmares, The law and the jungle, The state of the culture.
