Gay Marriage - part III

From the Boston Globe:

Governor Mitt Romney's plan to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts provoked strong reactions yesterday, drawing fire from those who said it discriminates against out-of-staters and praise for respecting the laws of other states.

Some questioned Romney, a gay-marriage opponent, for using a 91-year-old law to limit gay-marriage rights after the state's highest court had upheld them. Others said he was using the gay-marriage issue to promote his national image.

"If he wants to play a role as a moderate national statesman, he ought to pay more attention to the Constitution," said Laurence H. Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School who has argued in support of gay marriage. He called Romney's position "wildly implausible" and "legally weak."

But Ronald Crews, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute and an opponent of same-sex marriage, praised Romney for upholding Massachusetts law and for respecting the laws of other states.

The bottom line here is Governor Romney is acting within the law. If you don't like the law, work to have the laws changed through the legislative process. I support the rights of gays to marry, but the laws of the Commonwealth and the nation must be abided by. I don't want to cut-and-paste the entire text of the article here, but let's look at one more paragraph.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in November that it is unconstitutional to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying. Mary Bonauto, a lawyer at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, said that under the 4-3 court ruling Romney has no right to deny marriage to out-of-state couples simply because other states do not permit the couplings.

So, how would the SJC,the liberal legal advocates, and our left-leaning legislature feel about my traveling to Ohio and applying for a CCW (Carrying of Concealed Weapon) permit, and returning home to Massachusetts to exercise my rights confirmed by such a document. After all, the State of Ohio "has no right to deny marriage CCW permits to out-of-state couples individuals simply because other states do not permit the couplings issuance of such permits"...right?

(insert crickets chirping here)

Yeah, didn't think so.