[0.E.O]

How could marriage not be a Federal issue if each state is forced to recognize marriages from other states?

They aren't. A same-sex couple married in Massachusetts can't move to Nebraska and file a joint return. And I'd prefer that the feds stay out of it. While now DOMA says that marriage is between a man and a woman it only takes a bad election or two before Congress might decide a marriage is also between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Should that happen, I don't want them to force my state to recognize it. If Massachusetts wants to recognize same-sex marriage then let them. We don't, and aren't about to. I won't tell them what to do and they don't tell us what to do.

[supercat]

Should that happen, I don't want them to force my state to recognize it.

If I were the Great High Lord Poo-Pah In Charge Of Everything (but still bound by the Constitution), I would have Congress write and pass a law like the following:

1. USC 4.1 requires that states shall give full faith and credit to public acts performed in other states, but allows Congress to legislate the means by which such acts shall be proven, and the effect thereof.
2. Accordingly, any state may be compel another state to recognize a marriage among two or more persons performed within it, if the Secretary of State of the state where the marriage was performed appears in person at the office of Secretary of State to be compelled and hands over a 12oz bar of 99.9% pure gold with the names of the married persons engraved thereon along.
3. A state which is thereby compelled to recognize a marriage performed in another shall be required to, if presented with a sheet of paper containing the names of the people in question, and upon payment of a fee determined by that state, not to exceed $500, affirm such recognition by marking the paper in ink with the word "whatever" and returning the paper to the presenter.
4. States are required to retain the record of another state's marriage for a minimum of 24 hours. At the end of that time, the gold bar that was presented to certify that marriage will be the property of the state that received it, to do with as it sees fit.
5. Nothing herein shall restrict the authority of states to accept other forms of proof of marriages performed in other states, nor to recognize them in other ways, should they see fit to do so.

Such a law would be a very clear exercise of a power which Congress is explicitly given in USC 4.1; I doubt that any state would ever bother proving a marriage performed therein using the procedure described in the legislation, but if a state chose to do so I wouldn't think it would pose any particular problem.

[mrsmith]

You have things exactly backwards.

DOMA is the only thing preventing your state from being forced to recognize those marriages,

The courts would make your state recognize those ‘marriages’ just as now it forces it to honor child custody and support agreements for those ‘marriages’.

[uncommonsense]

"While now DOMA says that marriage is between a man and a woman it only takes a bad election or two before Congress might decide a marriage is also between a man and a man or a woman and a woman."

Oh how I wish people would understand that statism is a two edged sword and it's more likely to cut in the wrong direction if it's at the federal level!

[massmike]

If Massachusetts wants to recognize same-sex marriage then let them.

We DON'T want it here! We were NEVER allowed to vote on it!

[nickcarraway]

You are wrong. Can I marry a woman in California and then marry a woman in Georgia? No, I would be committing a crime. All 50 states recognize marriage from other states with regard to bigamy. I can only be married to one person at a time in the U.S. It’s not a state issue.