California Gay Marriage Law Opens a Can of Worms
Since same-sex marriages are not recognized under federal law or in most states, many gay couples who have plans to marry could be faced with disappointment - or even jail time - if they travel to California to get married. While Massachusetts law allows gay marriages, marriage licenses are only issued to same-sex couples who are residents of the state.
When California lifted the ban on same-sex marriages and became the first state to issue marriage licenses to gay couples from out of state, many gay and lesbian couples flocked in from other states to apply for marriage licenses. In most cases the worst case scenario would be the hurdles of being in a marriage not recognized by federal law and possibly not by their home state either.
Those burdens were not enough to stop gay couples who wanted to be married from traveling to California to tie the knot. Now some same-sex couples are being threatened with jail time if they marry in California and then return to their home state to live.
A recent report by CNN revealed that an obscure law in Wisconsin makes it a crime to travel to another state to enter into a marriage that is illegal under Wisconsin law and then return to Wisconsin to live. Simply put, same-sex couples who live in Wisconsin face a fine of up to $10,000 each and nine months in jail if they take a vacation to California and get married while they are there.
At least one lesbian couple from Wisconsin plans to challenge the age-old law. Kathy Cox and Kim Whalen live in Verona, Wisconsin and have been a couple for 20 years. They plan to get married in California on August 8, 2008 and return to Wisconsin to live. If and when they return to Wisconsin, they could be prosecuted for breaking the law.
Julaine Appling, Chief Executive Officer of the Wisconsin Family Council, says that same-sex couples who violate Wisconsin law should be charged with fraud. Appling says that same-sex couples who purposefully leave the state in order to enter into a marriage that they know will not be legal in Wisconsin and do so with every intention of returning home as a married couple are defrauding the government.
Fair Wisconsin, a gay rights advocacy group, does not believe that the law will be enforced. The group has sent e-mails to 10,000 of their members advising them of the 1915 state law. Fair Wisconsin says that the majority of their members would rather be prosecuted than persecuted for being gay. Those who wish to get married in California will do so without regard for the Wisconsin law.
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard has said that prosecuting same-sex couples who travel to California to get married would be a poor use of limited resources. Fair Wisconsin says that the prosecution of same-sex couples who violate the marriage law would be up to the district attorneys and it does not think that any district court would choose to prosecute same-sex couples for marrying in California and returning to Wisconsin.
