State votes to repeal marriage restriction

BOSTON – The Massachusetts House voted Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law that had been used to block gay marriages involving out-of-state couples, all but assuring that the state will allow same-sex couples to wed regardless of where they live.

The 119-36 vote came after the state Senate approved the repeal earlier this month, and Gov. Deval Patrick has said he will sign the bill. The measure requires one more procedural vote in each chamber before it goes to the governor.

Opponents recoiled at the outcome.

“With that protective barrier removed, out-of-state same-sex couples who marry here will sue to seek recognition in their home states, creating a flood of costly lawsuits and further eroding the people’s right to define marriage democratically,” the Massachusetts Family Institute said in a statement.

Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriage in 2004, but then-Gov. Mitt Romney ordered city and town clerks to enforce the long-dormant 1913 law to bar out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying. The law prohibits couples from marrying if the unions would be illegal in their home states.

Romney had argued that repealing the ban would turn the state into the “Las Vegas of gay marriage.” Since then, California has begun allowing same-sex marriages to both residents and out-of-state couples.

Some proponents say that repealing the law would allow Massachusetts to share in some of the economic boon California is enjoying. Patrick, the state’s first black governor, and other supporters also say the old law carried racial undertones from a time when interracial marriage was discouraged or illegal in some states.

“The 1913 law is outdated and discriminatory. Repealing it is the right thing to do,” Patrick said in a statement after the vote.