Gay Divorce in the United States
Splitting Up As A Same-Sex Couple Is Harder Than Wedding
Apr 22, 2008
Now that a handful of states are allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed, or at least obtain civil unions, an opposing matter is coming to light: the ability to divorce.
Just last December, Rhode Island’s top court ruled that homosexual citizens who had wed in Massachusetts (the closest state to perform same-sex weddings) were unable to get divorced because Rhode Island lawmakers have yet to define marriage beyond man and woman. As of April 15, 2008, Missouri is in the process of deciding whether a lesbian couple joined in Mass. could get an annulment.
As is reported in the April 15 New York Times article, “Some gay couples are having trouble obtaining divorces. 'We all know people who have gone through divorces. At the end of that long and unhappy period, they have been able to breathe a sigh of relief,’ said Cassandra Ormiston of Rhode Island, who is splitting from her wife, Margaret Chambers. But 'I do not see that on my horizon, that sigh of relief that it's over.'"
A Fraught Matter
The gay community is in a continuous struggle to cement marital rights for themselves. Now the potential to get out of such legal partnerships is being argued, putting a wedge in the original fight.
Since 2004, Mass. has been the only state to fully legalize gay marriage, performing ceremonies for over 10,000 couples; nine other states have opened up the option of civil unions and/or domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. As long as the couple who seeks a split is still in the state they wed/united, the ability to dissolve the marriage can be done with little to no difficulty. Those who have moved, however, meet a different story. Evidently, “Out-of-state couples could go back to Massachusetts to get divorced, but they would have to live there for a year to establish residency first,” as the NYT reports.
It may come as a surprise that such provisions exist, making it more difficult to dissolve a marriage when the thought of same-sex couples being wed is such an unaccepted idea. To be sure, Ormiston agrees when she says, “‘I find that an unbelievably unfair burden. I own a home here, my friends are here, my life is here.’” The divorcee-to-be is already resigned to moving to Massachusetts for the required year.
As of Frebruary of this year, however, the state of New York granted a divorce to a lesbian couple despite not allowing same-sex couples to wed to begin with. According to ABCNews.com, “Donna M. had argued that her 2004 marriage should be invalid in New York because the state doesn't allow same-sex marriage, but Supreme Court Justice Laura Drager found that the out-of-state marriage could still be recognized under New York law. Her ruling appears to be the first divorce case in New York from a same-sex marriage.”
Evidently, Drager said New York will not recognize an out-of-state marriage if it is prohibited by a state law or “abhorrent to New York public policy.” As it stands, polygamy and incest are the only abhorrent practices that would disallow recognition, not same-sex marriages.
Rights Adding Up
As more and more states begin to allow some sort of union for gay couples, the option of dissolving said unions will become more of an issue. Perhaps if and when some of the 43 states that have banned or limited same-sex unions swing the other way, there will be more instances mirroring examples like Oregon, a state that has begun to allow domestic partnerships this year. Thinking ahead, “to prevent problems similar to those in Massachusetts, lawmakers added a provision that allows couples to dissolve their partnerships in Oregon even if they have moved out of state,” the NYT reported.
As it stands now, civil unions can be obtained in Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Hampshire; domestic partnerships or similar benefits in California, Oregon, Maine, Washington, Hawaii and the District of Columbia.
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