PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court handed conservatives another victory Dec. 7 in the nationwide legal battle over gay “marriage,” ruling that a same-sex couple who obtained a marriage license in Massachusetts could not get a “divorce” back home in Rhode Island.
The seemingly obscure case was being closely watched by pro-family organizations that feared it could be used as a backdoor way to legalize gay “marriage” itself in the state. The case involved two lesbians, Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston, who were “married” in Massachusetts in 2004, only to then file for a divorce in Rhode Island. In a 3–2 decision, the court ruled that Rhode Island law clearly defines marriage as being between one man and one woman and that the state’s family court — which rules on divorces — has no authority to grant a “divorce” to a homosexual couple.
“With respect to the case at hand, there is absolutely no reason to believe that, when the act creating the Family Court became law in 1961, the legislators understood the word ‘marriage’ to refer to any state other than ‘the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex,’” the court wrote.
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