Lesbian couple seeks R.I. divorce

AP via Yahoo ^

[j_hig]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A lesbian couple married in Massachusetts should have the same right as heterosexual couples to divorce in their home state of Rhode Island, lawyers for the women told the state's highest court Tuesday.

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Cassandra Ormiston and Margaret Chambers were married in 2004 after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. Last year, the couple filed for divorce in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island law is silent on the legality of same-sex marriages.

If the women can't divorce in Rhode Island, their lawyers said the only legal avenue available to them would be for at least one to move to Massachusetts and live there long enough to obtain a divorce.

"It is an absolutely unfair burden," Ormiston said outside Rhode Island's Supreme Court. "It is a burden no one else is asked to bear, and it is something I will not do."

Lawyers for the women told the Supreme Court the only question to consider was whether Rhode Island could recognize a valid same-sex marriage from another state for the sole purpose of granting a divorce petition.

They stressed the case has no bearing on whether gay couples could get married in Rhode Island.

"You have a valid marriage in the state of Massachusetts," Louis Pulner, an attorney for Chambers, told the justices. "No one is asking the court to address the question of whether such marriages would be valid in Rhode Island."

In September 2006, a Massachusetts judge decided same-sex couples from Rhode Island could marry in Massachusetts because nothing in Rhode Island law specifically banned gay marriage. But the courts and the legislature in Rhode Island have not taken any action to recognize same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch earlier this year issued a nonbinding advisory opinion saying the state would recognize same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts.

The justices did not indicate when they would rule.

[Clock King]

I think you're dead on. If RI grants a divorce, then that implicitly means that RI has recognized the marriage as legitimate. Thus RI must recognize all future "gay marriages" as legitimate.

That is what this is about: a "backdoor" political way to force other states to recognize gay marriage.

[gidget7]

They don’t want either recognized really. They want it imported into other states, which is why they married in the first pace. They can travel the short distance and divorce in MA if divorce is what they want. The so called marriage, is not recognized in RI anyway, so no need for a divorce.

[shbox]

Occasionally you will find the bulldyke driving the 4x4 pickup.

Often confused with good hearted tom-boy type cowgirls from a distance, but easily distinguished by the rainbow decals and mullet haircut upon closer inspection.

[gidget7]

Many couples who are truly married..........move away from that sate, they DO NOT have to move back for a divorce. All they need is an atty from the state they married in. Possible a visit or two, but move? No.

[Badeye]

Yep. This reminds me of how we got ‘seperation of church and state’....