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Cambridge and Harvard Couples Celebrate New Marriages

Meanwhile, Romney, who opposes gay marriage, yesterday ordered four cities to submit copies of same-sex marriage license applications that may have come from out-of-state couples.

Romney previously instructed city clerks to enforce a 1913 state law prohibiting non-residents from receiving marriage licenses in Massachusetts if the marriage would not be legal in their home state.

The records request was directed at four cities that openly pledged to defy Romney’s order—Worcester, Springfield, Somerville and Provincetown.

Cambridge City Clerk D. Margaret Drury said last week that she had “a lot of sympathy for [the] position” of those cities but was bound to follow the state registrar’s orders to prohibit out-of-state couples from marrying—although the city would not require proof of residency.

“We’re going to do things the way we always have. We accept the sworn oath of the couples as to the truth of the facts that they put in their application,” Drury said last week. “If couples state under oath that they live in another state and that they intend to return to that state after the marriage, we will not be issuing licenses.”

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The validity of out-of-state couples’ marriages remained unclear yesterday as the attorneys general of two neighboring states indicated that Massachusetts licenses might be honored there.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in an advisory opinion that the state would recognize any marriages legally performed in other states, although he said the courts would ultimately decide whether same-sex marriages would be considered valid.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that same-sex marriages were not legal in his state, but that marriages performed in other states would not necessarily be considered invalid.

CAMPUS REACTION

As the political wrangling continued, members of Harvard’s Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) who traveled to City Hall early Monday morning expressed confidence that same-sex marriage will become increasingly palatable to those who currently oppose it.

“Once people start seeing that all these people are getting married and the sky is not falling, I think it will become a non-issue,” Margaret C.D. Barusch ’06 said yesterday, adding that the energy of the rally overshadowed the possibility that the SJC’s ruling could be circumvented. “The way that evening was, people were just so excited, it didn’t really matter what came next.”

But Jordan B. Woods ’06 said that during the celebration, the possible constitutional ban was on his mind as a reason to stay active.

“It makes you think that no matter how far we’ve come, obviously we still have to keep on fighting,” he said yesterday.

In addition to the contingent from the BGLTSA, about 20 members of the Harvard College Democrats gathered on the City Hall lawn Sunday.

“You really felt like you were at a groundbreaking historical event,” said Eric P. Lesser ’07, who is a member of the organization. “It was overwhelming.”

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