Many out-of-state couples coming from New York

Following the repeal of the 1913 law last week, there was some assumption that out of state gay couples would flock to Massachusetts to obtain marriage licenses. While there certainly have been some, Massachusetts isn't quite yet "the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage" as opponents of repealing the law had predicted.

Not surprisingly, of the ten city and town clerks contacted by Bay Windows, Provincetown has seen the most number of out of state same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses since Gov. Deval Patrick signed the repeal bill into law on July 31.

"Just using yesterday as a guide, we had 21 marriage filings, not unusually heavy for us in August, but a lot of them were out of state," said Town Clerk Doug Johnstone, on Aug. 5.

Couples came to the Cape from Maryland, New York, Missouri, even as far as Colorado, Arizona and California to get married, he said.

No other cities throughout the state have seen the numbers that Provincetown has, although city clerks in Springfield, Northampton and Fall River all confirmed that a number of out-of-state couples have been in since Thursday. While the couples coming in have been from a number of different states, the majority have been from New York, they said.

New York Gov. David Paterson in May ordered state agencies to recognize same-sex unions performed in other jurisdictions, such as California, Massachusetts and Canada.

The city clerk in Pittsfield, 20 minutes east of the New York border and 45 minutes from Albany, reported that five couples had come in to the office, all from New York state.

In addition to individual clerk's offices, GLAD has received a number of calls from non-resident couples inquiring about the process of getting married in Massachusetts, although the numbers haven't been overwhelming either.

"We have a legal info-line and we are beginning to get some calls; I wouldn't say we've had a huge number but certainly over time we've had a lot of calls," said Bruce Bell, Legal info-line manager for GLAD.

The organization's website has a trove of information for out-of- state-couples contemplating marriage in Massachusetts.

Clerks in Methuen, Lawrence, Lowell and Haverhill, all of which are in close proximity to northern New England states, said that as of Aug. 5, they have yet to see out-of-state couples, although the Haverhill office has fielded a number of phone inquiries.