Massachusetts Court to Rule on Same Sex Marriages

BOSTON (CNN) July 14, 2004 - A highly anticipated ruling by Massachusetts' highest court could make the state the first to legalize same-sex marriages.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did not issue its decision on gay marriage Monday, as many had expected.

Under its internal guidelines, the court tries to issue decisions within 130 days of hearing oral arguments, which in this case occurred on March 4. The Associated Press reported that the deadline is a non-binding, and which court officials have repeatedly said the justices could exceed if necessary.

The case was filed by seven same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses and has attracted national attention, with advocates on both sides predicting that the Massachusetts court could become the first in the nation to legalize gay marriage.

"We're talking about people who don't have equality under the law and should have it, because all citizens in this state are born free and equal," said Mary Bonauto, an attorney for the plaintiffs who also works for the Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.

In the United States, Vermont is the only state to allow same-sex couples the rights and benefits of marriage. Vermont calls them civil unions, rather than marriages.

California's State Assembly recently passed a domestic partnership law to provide similar benefits, but it stops short of allowing gays to marry.

"Gay people want the freedom to marry for the same reasons non-gay people do," said Evan Wolfson, the executive director of Freedom to Marry, a group of gay and straight leaders and groups working to make same-sex marriage legal.

"It's emotional as well as economic, practical as well as personal, tangible as well as intangible," Wolfson said.

Gay activists say the American judicial system is beginning to catch up with modern society.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional, and on June 10, an appeals court in the Canadian province of Ontario struck down a ban on same-sex marriage.

States determine marriage laws

In the United States, marriage laws are determined by states, and a number of states have passed laws forbidding gays from marrying, often also barring the recognition of a same-sex marriage performed in another state. The federal government's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), while not an outright ban on gay marriage, declares that states are not required to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state.

DOMA, passed by Congress in 1996, also effectively bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions by defining marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" and spouse as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

Among the plaintiffs in the Massachusetts case are Julie and Hillary Goodridge, women who have been a couple for 16 years. They are raising a daughter, Annie, who is 7 years old.

In Goodridge et al v. Department of Public Health, the Goodridges and six other couples seek recognition of their marriages.

Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Judith Yogman argued the state's case before the court in March, saying the state wants to encourage the heterosexual model of marriage.

Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly has argued it is for the legislature, not the courts, to decide whether to redefine the institution of marriage.