Massachusetts senate passes bill to repeal 1913 law

In a voice vote the Massachusetts state Senate passed a bill to repeal an antiquated state law that has blocked most same-sex couples from out of state from marrying in Massachusetts.

There was brief debate about the bill to repeal the statute, known as the 1913 law after the year in which it was passed.

The 1913 law prohibits out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would be considered void in their home state. The origins of the bill are in question, but advocates and legal scholars have argued that it was passed at least in part to prevent interracial couples from marrying in Massachusetts to skirt their home state's anti-miscegenation laws.

The law had not been enforced for decades when former Gov. Mitt Romney revived it in the run-up to the beginning of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004. He publicly warned that if same-sex couples from other states could marry in Massachusetts, the state would become "the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage."
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the 1913 law, but in 2006 the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld the law. The court ruled that it only applied to states that explicitly ban recognition of same-sex marriage. Currently couples from California, Rhode Island, and New Mexico may marry in Massachusetts.

Former senator Jarrett Barrios originally filed the 1913 law repeal bill, and Sen. Dianne Wilkerson served as the champion of the bill in the Senate in the run-up to today's vote. Gov. Deval Patrick has said he will sign the repeal bill if it reaches his desk, and the bill also enjoys the support of several of the state's top political leaders, including Senate President Therese Murray, House Speaker Sal DiMasi, and Attorney General Martha Coakley.