Friday, June 8, 2012

Whine, Whine, There's No Same-Sex Divorce Here

June 7, 2012 CNN has a heart-rending story of a couple that flew to California to get a same-sex marriage, and now can't get a same-sex divorce in Maryland:
Some states that do not allow same-sex marriages to be performed also do not grant divorces for same-sex marriages that occurred outside of the state's borders. It's a tricky situation when a couple wants to dissolve their same-sex marriage, and neither spouse is a resident of a state that recognizes their marriage as legal and valid.
To satisfy the residency requirements, under these circumstances, you'd have to live in a state for six months to two years -- depending on local laws -- in order to get a divorce from a same-sex partner, said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, which represented Cowan.
And in the case of Port and Cowan, a Maryland judge ruled in 2010 that the state's constitution could not recognize their divorce, and denied their filing. They were both Maryland residents when they sought to dissolve their marriage, and Maryland was not a state that recognizes same-sex marriage.
Like happened with the couple that "married" in Massachusetts, and then moved to Connecticut within a couple of years to file for divorce, trying to force Connecticut to recognize their marriage.  Why am I skeptical that either the marriage or divorce is anything but a legal gambit?

1 comment:

  1. Good reason to be skeptical, its very likely a legal stunt.

    ReplyDelete