usmc4669
03-26-04, 02:31 PM
BOSTON (AP) - Town and city clerks were told this week that the Department of Public Health will train them in early May to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The notification is a sign that state officials are preparing for legal gay marriages, which the Supreme Judicial Court has said can begin on May 17.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Mitt Romney, who has said he may ask the court to delay implementation of its decision, criticized the training as "premature."
Barnstable clerk Linda E. Hutchenrider, president of the Massachusetts Towns Clerks' Association, said she was told by the state's Registry of Vital Records and Statistics that the training would be in early May, but she was given no specifics. The registry, a division of the Department of Public Health, oversees the issuance of marriage licenses.
The clerks' association had written in February to Romney, Attorney General Tom Reilly, legislative leaders and the Public Health commissioner, asking for clarification on how they should handle marriage licenses for gay couples.
The Legislature will resume a constitutional convention next week to consider the amendment, which would ban gay marriage if enacted by voters.
Romney, a gay marriage foe, has said he would like the court to halt its landmark November ruling legalizing gay marriage until after voters have weighed in on the proposed amendment. The earliest the amendment could reach a ballot would be 2006.
Dozens of demonstrators supporting a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages crowd the Great Hall outside the House chamber at the beginning of the legislative session Friday, March 26, 2004, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
The notification is a sign that state officials are preparing for legal gay marriages, which the Supreme Judicial Court has said can begin on May 17.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Mitt Romney, who has said he may ask the court to delay implementation of its decision, criticized the training as "premature."
Barnstable clerk Linda E. Hutchenrider, president of the Massachusetts Towns Clerks' Association, said she was told by the state's Registry of Vital Records and Statistics that the training would be in early May, but she was given no specifics. The registry, a division of the Department of Public Health, oversees the issuance of marriage licenses.
The clerks' association had written in February to Romney, Attorney General Tom Reilly, legislative leaders and the Public Health commissioner, asking for clarification on how they should handle marriage licenses for gay couples.
The Legislature will resume a constitutional convention next week to consider the amendment, which would ban gay marriage if enacted by voters.
Romney, a gay marriage foe, has said he would like the court to halt its landmark November ruling legalizing gay marriage until after voters have weighed in on the proposed amendment. The earliest the amendment could reach a ballot would be 2006.
Dozens of demonstrators supporting a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages crowd the Great Hall outside the House chamber at the beginning of the legislative session Friday, March 26, 2004, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)