h/t to Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities for this.
BOSTON - Seven months after champagne toasts rang in a new era of gay marriage in Massachusetts, same-sex couples are beginning to share in the less joyous side of matrimony: irreconcilable differences, settlement agreements and divorce.
Over the past few months, newlywed same-sex couples have been trickling into probate courts across the state, seeking to renounce the vows they so recently took, filling out forms that remain outdated with the traditional ``husband'' and ``wife'' references.
There are a couple of items of interest here, aside from the larger issue of Gay Marriage.
In Hampshire County, home to the gay enclave of Northampton, the register of the probate court said that at least three or four same-sex couples have been divorced, but said they don't keep records or set them aside. In several counties, the register of the court said that they did not know whether they had received any.
I realize that they may be dealing at a different level of government here. But it is ironic that we've been told over and over about divorce rates versus red and blue states, but the reporter here didn't care enough to try and quantify these figures. And why no mention of an early ratio of these divorces to the number of marriages done in these counties. A little digging could have gotten that information. The next bit is a classic as regards liberal thinking.
While the state's marriage records have been changed to become gender-neutral, the divorce records have not yet, requiring some couples to have to strike out the words ``husband'' or ``wife'' - not a huge obstacle but disrespectful to the couples, said Richard Iannella, register of the Suffolk County probate court.
"The Supreme Judicial Court was great about forcing the Legislature to change the marriage law, but at the same time, they have to catch up to where we are today,'' Iannella said. ``I think that people have to be treated equally and with respect. When you have to strike out those words, it makes you feel like a second-class citizen.''
This is the first I've heard about making marriage records "gender neutral." Wonder if they kept that out of the debate as it's bound to make the issue even less popular once people start to think about how this issue will have ramifications for straights as well as gays. Bascially the terms "husband and wife" would be abandoned. And as to the issue of how having to "stike out" words makes one "feel," you would think that would be relatively insignificant as compared to how you might feel having made the significant decision to get married then needing to bail on it well before the end of the first year. Of course that would only be true if "marriage" were a significant decision and people took responsibility for their actions. As always the left frets over getting the pronouns right - read gender neutral, while ignoring the real life implications of the actions and what it means for the society as a whole.
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