Cassandra Ormiston and Margaret Chambers‘ impending divorce takes center stage again this week, as the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled that a family court can hear the queer couple’s case. The once-loving ladies married in Massachusetts in 2004, during the brief months before former Governor Mitt Romney helped pass a law invalidating out-of-stater’s same-sex nuptials.
Unfortunately, the ladies called it quits after heading back to their home state and filed for divorce. A family court judge, the brilliantly named Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr, couldn’t take the backdoor judicial pressure and passed the case on to the Supreme Court.
The Court originally sent the case back to JSJ Jr., but has now agreed to hear the case only to answer this pressing question:
May the Family Court properly recognize, for the purpose of entertaining a divorce petition, the marriage of two persons of the same sex who were purportedly married in another state?
The Supreme Court will answer that very query on August 1. The Court also makes clear that this decision does not decide whether or not the state will legalize gay marriage. That’s quite the disclaimer, especially considering Attorney General Patrick Lynch‘s recent vow to legalize Massachusetts’ gay vows.
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R.I. court to rule on same-sex marriage [The Providence Journal]
B17Eng
Serves them right!