Couple fights to retain their same-sex marriage

MERIDEN, Conn. – Among the first things Katy Gossman and Kristin Marshall did after their May wedding in Massachusetts was change Marshall’s last name to Gossman – but they are still waiting for her new driver’s license to make it official.

When the lesbian couple made the trek to the Connecticut Motor Vehicle Department, the clerk was at a loss for what to do.

“He started to punch it into the computer, and then he looked at the marriage license again. He looked at us, he looked at the license,” Katy said. “He said he didn’t know what to do with us. They weren’t saying no, but they weren’t saying yes.”

The Gossmans were married in Worcester, Mass., on May 20, three days after gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts. Now they are one of eight couples who have filed a lawsuit challenging a 1913 Massachusetts law that has been used to block out-of-state couples from marrying there.

The Gossmans want to keep their marriage from being declared invalid. But even more so, they want to use that marriage license to try to secure in their home state of Connecticut all the legal and health benefits that come with being married.

Katy, an FBI agent, said she has already used her marriage license to obtain medical benefits for Kristin under her health plan at work. With the dangerous nature of her work, Katy, 40, also rushed to have Kristin, 38, listed as her beneficiary on her life insurance and pension.

In the lawsuit filed in June, the Gossmans and others are contesting a law that bars couples who live outside Massachusetts from exchanging vows there if their marriages would be illegal in their home states. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said that any gay marriages involving out-of-state couples would be declared void.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has said that Connecticut law does not allow for same-sex marriage, but he declined to say whether the state will recognize marriage licenses issued to gay couples in Massachusetts. In a letter to Romney, Blumenthal said that any marriages performed in Massachusetts would not be automatically void in Connecticut.

With that in mind, the couple jumped in their car and were married by a justice of the peace, who they say was well aware of their Connecticut residency. The ceremony was small, with only Kristin’s parents attending, and informal.