u235

It doesn't come as much of a surprise to me that the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gay people can only get married in Mass if it would be legal in their home state. It's pretty intuitive actually. If something is not legal in your state, you can't use the authority of another state to force it to be legal.

Putting aside the whole good/bad argument on gay marriage, I would say that if being married to your partner is an essential issue for the two of you then simply move to a state that supports it. It's not a question of what's morally, ethically or emotionally right - it's a just the fact that people who live in a state have the rights and authority to say what should or should not be legal. This goes as much for bars that have to sell liquor in nip bottles as it does for gay marriage. If the voting majority in a state says that dressing up as a Care Bear is profane and need to be banned along with Barney and Teletubby impersonations then so be it. Just because it's legal in another state doesn't mean you can get their permission to dress up as a Care Bear and come back to your state and demand acceptance.

It's true that the process for changes to state law is a long, slow and lengthy process, but it's that way for a purpose. It means that for a state to have decreed that marriage can only be defined as a union between two people of the opposite sex, proponents of the measure had to follow the rules. They created initiatives, they found sponsors, they achieved a voting majority. At any point in this process detractors had the opportunity to change voters minds. If they didn't, well - the majority rules, that's how the game goes.

I know there will be some crying from the gay community that their rights are being squelched and some victory dancing from the conservatives that 'reason' has once again held sway but imho they're both wrong. It's simply a matter of what is legal where you -choose- to live. See that word there? Choose. As I said before if you choose to live in a conservative state, don't go running to a liberal one and expect them to fight your battles for you. Yes it's hard, but asking one state to force its laws on another just isn't the way it works. Either move, work to change local opinion or accept the laws of the state you live in.