Gay marriages in limbo: couples wed in Oregon and California and waiting to marry in Massachusetts anxiously await the next step: full equality.Katharine Sprecher and Nitzye Gonzalez sat in the Multnomah County, Ore., clerk's office on April 20 and sobbed, wiping away each other's tears. Earlier that day a state judge had put a stop to same-sex marriages in Oregon just as the couple were about to make theirs official. "I was a little shell-shocked. I was expecting this day to turn out very different," Sprecher told reporters. "I didn't realize there was going to be a ruling today." From coast to coast same-sex couples married in locations including Oregon, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State, New Jersey, and New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). are caught in postmarital limbo and are now wondering how they're going to convince their employers, neighbors, and families they are legally married when ever, the courts are confused. Remarkably, the Oregon circuit court judge who blocked same-sex couples from marrying also ordered the state to recognize approximately 3,000 same-sex marriages that took place between the commencement of licensing same-sex couples on March 3 and his ruling of April 20. Judge Frank Bearden said that he thought the state's laws against gay marriage were unconstitutional. He threw the issue back to the legislature, saying it must either allow same-sex couples to marry or create a Vermont-style civil union alternative. In California the state's supreme court has yet to determine the legal status of nearly 4,000 same-sex couples who were married in San Francisco before the court ordered Mayor Gavin Newsom  This article or section contains information about one or more candidates in an upcoming or ongoing election.Content may change as the election approaches. on March 11 to stop issuing licenses. In Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney This article or section contains information about one or more candidates in an upcoming or ongoing election.Content may change as the election approaches. continues to vow that he'll derail de·rail intr. & tr.v. de·railed, de·rail·ing, de·rails 1. To run or cause to run off the rails. 2. the same-sex marriages scheduled to begin May 17. On April 15 he filed a request for emergency legislation to appoint special counsel to circumvent the state's attorney Noun 1. state's attorney - a prosecuting attorney for a state state attorney prosecuting attorney, prosecuting officer, prosecutor, public prosecutor - a government official who conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state general and petition the Massachusetts supreme judicial court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere. for a stay of its decision granting same-sex couples marriage rights. Romney had sought Atty. Gen. Tom Reilly's representation in front of the state's high court, but Reilly urged Romney to accept defeat, calling same-sex marriage "the law of the state." The uncertainty leaves city and town clerks, who are charged with issuing marriage licenses, in a quandary. Doug Johnstone, town clerk of Provincetown, says his community is moving forward because of what he calls "an absence of any guidance" from state officials. Guidance from the state is coming soon. The Department of Public Health is conducting regional information sessions for city and town clerks throughout the state in early May. Johnstone is going on with business as usual in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile . "We are proceeding according to the SJC's ruling, and as of May 17 we will be filing marriage intentions for same-sex couples," says Johnstone. "Whatever the legislature or governor has been doing really hasn't changed anything." Back in Oregon the circuit court's ruling will likely be appealed to the state supreme court, where the legal stares of the 3,000 marriages in question could be overturned. At least until then the couples have fully valid licenses. In a written statement addressing married same-sex couples in Oregon, Roey Thorpe, executive director of the gay advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon Basic Rights Oregon is the largest non-profit gay rights organization in the U.S. state of Oregon. Based in Portland, its mission is to "end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Oregon. , said, "While you already know in your hearts that you are married, an Oregon court has just taken a giant step toward making sure the state treats your marriage just like all other marriages." Kuhr is the editor of Boston-based In Newsweekly. |
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