Fridae

Massachusetts has become the first American state to marry gay and lesbian couples Monday on Monday. Cambridge became the first city to start processing marriage licenses on May 17 as Marcia Hams, 56, and her partner of 27 years, Susan Shepherd, 52, entered the history books as the first same-sex couple in America to legally wed.

Massachusetts' historic move was ordered by the state's Supreme Judicial Court last November as the court ruled that denying marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples violates the state constitution.

The final legal threat to gay marriage was overcome last Friday when the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from conservatives who called for an injunction to block same-sex marriages.

The state now joins a tiny list of places where same-sex couples can marry including Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

Although thousands of same-sex couples have been issued marriage licenses in San Francisco earlier this year, the marriages were not recognised by the state of California and is now the focus of legal battles.

According to The New York Times, while it was unclear how many same-sex couples sought licenses on Monday, but at least 900 same-sex couples showed up in 29 of the state's 351 cities and towns.

At least four communities - Provincetown, Somerville, Worcester and Springfield -decided to defy Governor Mitt Romney and issue out-of-state couples marriage licenses even if they said on their application that they had no intention of moving to Massachusetts. Officials in these towns could face fines or criminal charges for violating Gov. Romney's edict that doesn't allow gay men and lesbians from other states to marry.

Gov. Romney, a Republican who does not support same-sex marriage, cited a 1913 state law, adopted in part to block interracial marriages, which forbids Massachusetts from marrying anyone who cannot be legally married in their home state.

The ruling to allow same-sex marriages by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last November attracted opponents including President George Bush, who supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. At the time, he issued a statement taking a slap at the court: "The sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges" but has barely mentioned the issue until Monday when he renewed his call for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages.

Democratic Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, Bush's opponent in November's presidential election - who opposes gay marriage but supports "civil unions" for same-sex couples - is maintaining a measured silence on the issue so as too not to alienate the gay vote, observers' say.

"I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I support extending rights to people that are non-discriminatory, that afford rights under the equal protection clause of the Constitution - meaning civil union or other rights so that you have non-discriminatory status - but I believe marriage is between a man and a woman," the four-term senator from Massachusetts said last Friday.

Although Gov. Mitt Romney is pushing for a referendum to overturn the court ruling, he said that he would abide by the court's decision for now. "An issue as fundamental to society as the definition of marriage should be decided by the people. Until then, I intend to follow the law and expect others to do the same."

Despite Monday's nuptials, same-sex marriage is not guaranteed as the state legislature in March approved an amendment to the state constitution barring gay marriage, but the amendment fell two votes short of approval. If ultimately approved, that law would take effect at the end of 2006. It is however not known how the marriages that occur between now and 2006 will be recognised if the ban occurs.