Cambridge and Harvard Couples Celebrate New Marriages

Although the rush had died down at Cambridge City Hall after Monday’s exuberant early-morning celebration, same-sex couples continued to exercise their new legal right to marry yesterday, joining the more than 1,000 gay couples who have now wed across the state.

The unions occurred even as opponents renewed their calls for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and Gov. W. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., pledged to enforce a law preventing out-of-state couples from obtaining licenses in Massachusetts.

Shortly before closing time yesterday, the Cambridge City Clerk’s office had received 282 applications for marriage licenses since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling allowing same-sex marriage took effect on Monday, the vast majority of these coming from same-sex couples.

Twenty-four same-sex couples had obtained court waivers of the three-day waiting period in order to be married immediately, according to Deputy City Clerk Donna Lopez.

The clerk’s office gave out 227 of the license applications between midnight and 4:30 a.m. on Monday, when City Hall opened to allow same-sex couples to file for marriage at the earliest possible moment.

Forty-three couples returned later in the day on Monday to register their intentions to marry, and the city clerk performed 23 same-sex marriages—the first, Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey of Malden, at 9:15 a.m.

“You couldn’t even move at one point in here,” said staff member Marybeth Cosgrove, describing the scene in the clerk’s office, which processed only 12 license applications on May 14, before same-sex marriage became legal.

“They’ve been happy, excited, shaking,” she said of the couples.

Ripped confetti, deflated balloons and candy wrappers scattered across the City Hall lawn were the only remnants yesterday of the party that took place into the early morning hours on Monday, when the city commemorated the occasion with a wedding cake, music and speeches, and thousands gathered outside to cheer for the couples.

But inside, pink and white ribbons still decorated the banisters, and bouquets of flowers rested on a table in the city clerk’s office, donated by Central Square Florist and addressed to “Any Body. City Hall. Cambridge, MA.”

As couples in Cambridge and across the state seek licenses, the possibility remains that same-sex marriages will no longer be legal in two years if a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage succeeds.

In March, the Massachusetts State Legislature gave its first approval to the amendment, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman but would establish civil unions for same-sex couples. The legislature must pass the amendment again in the 2005-2006 session before it is put to a statewide referendum.

At the celebration at City Hall Sunday night, shortly before the first couples were allowed to file for marriage licenses, State Rep. Alice K. Wolf, D-Cambridge, a vocal opponent of the proposed amendment, told reporters she was optimistic that it would not pass.

“There’s a good shot at having it voted down next year,” said Wolf, who will serve as a witness at a same-sex marriage later this week.

A challenge to same-sex marriage could also come at the national level. President George W. Bush has voiced support for a federal constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.

Meanwhile, Romney, who opposes gay marriage, yesterday ordered four cities to submit copies of same-sex marriage license applications that may have come from out-of-state couples.

Romney previously instructed city clerks to enforce a 1913 state law prohibiting non-residents from receiving marriage licenses in Massachusetts if the marriage would not be legal in their home state.

The records request was directed at four cities that openly pledged to defy Romney’s order—Worcester, Springfield, Somerville and Provincetown.

Cambridge City Clerk D. Margaret Drury said last week that she had “a lot of sympathy for [the] position” of those cities but was bound to follow the state registrar’s orders to prohibit out-of-state couples from marrying—although the city would not require proof of residency.

“We’re going to do things the way we always have. We accept the sworn oath of the couples as to the truth of the facts that they put in their application,” Drury said last week. “If couples state under oath that they live in another state and that they intend to return to that state after the marriage, we will not be issuing licenses.”

The validity of out-of-state couples’ marriages remained unclear yesterday as the attorneys general of two neighboring states indicated that Massachusetts licenses might be honored there.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in an advisory opinion that the state would recognize any marriages legally performed in other states, although he said the courts would ultimately decide whether same-sex marriages would be considered valid.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that same-sex marriages were not legal in his state, but that marriages performed in other states would not necessarily be considered invalid.

CAMPUS REACTION

As the political wrangling continued, members of Harvard’s Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) who traveled to City Hall early Monday morning expressed confidence that same-sex marriage will become increasingly palatable to those who currently oppose it.

“Once people start seeing that all these people are getting married and the sky is not falling, I think it will become a non-issue,” Margaret C.D. Barusch ’06 said yesterday, adding that the energy of the rally overshadowed the possibility that the SJC’s ruling could be circumvented. “The way that evening was, people were just so excited, it didn’t really matter what came next.”

But Jordan B. Woods ’06 said that during the celebration, the possible constitutional ban was on his mind as a reason to stay active.

“It makes you think that no matter how far we’ve come, obviously we still have to keep on fighting,” he said yesterday.

In addition to the contingent from the BGLTSA, about 20 members of the Harvard College Democrats gathered on the City Hall lawn Sunday.

“You really felt like you were at a groundbreaking historical event,” said Eric P. Lesser ’07, who is a member of the organization. “It was overwhelming.”

The College Dems support full marriage rights for same-sex couples, despite the fact that presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., only supports civil unions.

“I think it’s a generational issue in a lot of ways,” said Dems Legislative Director Thomas M. McSorley ’06. Last March, McSorley produced a video for the Dems promoting same-sex marriage, comparing the issue to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

“Our generation is much more pro-gay marriage. I mean, there were a lot of Republicans out at the celebration on Sunday,” McSorley said. “The bottom line is that John Kerry is Catholic and a member of a much older generation....I really do believe this issue will change as our generation grows older.”

While the Harvard Republican Club (HRC) has not taken a specific position on same-sex marriage, spokesperson Lauren K. Truesdell ’06 said that per club policy, the HRC “stands with the president” on the issue.

“The club supports President Bush’s call for a constitutional ban on gay marriage,” Truesdell said.

Truesdell acknowledged that some HRC members may support same-sex marriage, but none have left the club over the issue.

“In any policy issue you’re always going to have some people who disagree. We found that the most effective way to deal with questions of this type is to go along with the platform of the national party,” she said.

HRC member Joshua A. Barro ’05, who encouraged other campus Republicans to join the procession to City Hall in support of same-sex marriage, noted yesterday that two of HRC’s seven executive members joined him.

Barro acknowledged that there was disagreement over the issue within HRC, but added, “I’m not aware of any discord in particular. There hasn’t been a really active discussion about it within the club.”

Barro said that while he believes prohibiting same-sex marriage is discrimination against homosexuals, he did not think this reflected the views of the HRC.

“The club does very few things to officially stamp its approval on the issue,” Barro said. “There are lots of things in the party platform that people don’t necessarily agree with and the people in the club never discuss.”

A Crimson poll conducted in December found that 77 percent of Harvard students supported the SJC’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, and many students yesterday echoed that support.

“I think it was cool. We were making history, I wanted to be a part of that,” Katherine E. Rieser ’07, who attended the City Hall rally, said over dinner in Adams House courtyard.

Sasha R. Harris-Lovett ’07, who also attended, agreed.

“I think it’s important to support equality in our society...for people who otherwise might not be supported by everybody,” she said.

One student said he thought even more people would have attended the rally Sunday night if the timing had been better.

“Most people were studying for exams,” Samuel M. Johnson ’06 said.

—Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

—Staff writer Michael M. Grynbaum can be reached at grynbaum@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Jessica R. Rubin-Wills can be reached at rubinwil@fas.harvard.edu.