Speaking of marriage in Massachusetts...

Earlier I was talking with ronebofh about how gay marriage would work across state lines given the full-faith-and-credit clause of the Constitution. The 1996 "Defense of Marriage Act" says that one state doesn't have to recognize another's marriages, but is that stipulation constitutional? (Most people seem to think the answer is "probably", and I've heard that this is generally consistent with cases of other differences between marriage laws.)

Here's something I didn't know (found out via Andrew Sullivan, whose admiration of George W. Bush seems to have waned over the FMA): for the specific case of Massachusetts, the question is legally moot, at least as regards the scenario of people streaming over the border in crowds to get hitched. Massachusetts law explicitly prohibits marrying people who live in another state where the marriage would be illegal, and declares such marriages null and void if somebody does manage to get one. I suppose the courts could overturn that, though I doubt they will. (I wonder if the law was operative in the days when many other states had laws against interracial marriage.)

Having poked around the Massachusetts marriage statutes a few years back for obvious reasons, I feel as if I should have known that.

So don't come to Massachusetts just to get married here, unless you're planning to stay.