When California starts marrying gay couples on June 17th, we intend to be one of the grand crowd flying to Palm Springs for what I'll call the new "summer of love."
Assuming voters in California decide in November to amend their constitution to preclude gay marriages (which is far from certain, but certainly possible), let's count the ways in which we'll face a wonderful gumbo of legal limbo.
1. After November, would New York continue to consider us married?
2. If Obama repeals DOMA, would the federal government consider us married?
3. Would we get in trouble if we marked "not married" on our Federal Tax Returns if we are married in California, civil unioned in New Jersey where we live, and California no longer recognizes marriages? Would we get in trouble if we *did* mark "married"?
4. Would California still recognize our domestic partnership from New Jersey?
5. Would our California marriage remain, revert to a Domestic Partnership, or would both marriage and Domestic Partnership no longer be recognized in California?
6. Would our community property in California still be legally considered community property (since only Domestic partners or married couples can own community property in California, and New Jersey has no community property law).
7. If we moved to Massachusetts, would that state considered us already married or require us to get married again?
8. If New Jersey decides to recognize gay marriages, would we already be married since we married in California but California no longer recognizes it, or would we have to go through a process to upgrade our civil union?
9. If Vermont decides to recognize gay marriage after November, would we be automatically married in Vermont after November if we were no longer considered married in California?
10. This would be our forth time to solemnize our relationship (commitment ceremony, domestic partnership, civil union, marriage). Which one should we celebrate as our anniversary?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
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1 comment:
You certainly have a great attitude about the whole mess.
On the bright side, I guess, plenty of excuses to have a great party!
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