Two researchers are urging states that have approved same-sex marriage to offer marriage licenses online. The marriages are currently legal in only four states, and the move could ease a bottleneck for out-of-state applicants. But critics say those states deserve the revenue from actual – not virtual – wedding trips.
Same-sex marriage is legal in just four U.S. states — New Hampshire will become the fifth on Jan. 1 — a situation that forces gay couples everywhere else to travel to places like Vermont and Iowa to be wed.
Two Michigan State University professors think there’s a better way. They say states that offer same-sex marriage should allow couples anywhere in the country to obtain a marriage license online. But skeptics of this plan abound.
On a Saturday afternoon in 2004, Chris Swope and his partner, Brad Rakowski, exchanged vows in a Lansing, Mich., church before their family and friends.
Two days later, the couple had a second, quieter ceremony in Windsor, Ontario. That’s where they signed the papers that bestowed on them the Canadian province’s legal blessing.
And that poses a dilemma, Swope says.
“You know, it kind of throws us up in the air about which is our real anniversary,” he said. “The one that was more meaningful and heartfelt but has zero legal recognition, or the one that’s legally recognized.”
Swope’s home state of Michigan is one of 29 that impose constitutional restrictions on marriage.
Legal researcher Adam Candeub believes the situation creates a national roadblock. Read more………
