Murray backs weddings for nonresidents

The newly elected president of the state Senate said she favors repealing a law that prevents most same-sex couples from other states from getting married here, saying she did not share former governor Mitt Romney's fear that Massachusetts would become a gay marriage mecca.

Therese Murray, a Plymouth Democrat, also said she thought there was a good chance of passage for a bill before the Legislature that would strike a 1913 law barring the issuance of marriage licenses to out-of-state couples who would not be allowed to marry in their state of residence.

"It's an antiquated law," Murray said.

But a repeal, which is also supported by House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Governor Deval Patrick, could provoke broader controversy when activists are trying to stop the Legislature from sending a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the 2008 ballot. Proponents of gay marriage are not currently lobbying for repeal because they fear it could stir up antigay sentiment and hurt their chances of defeating the amendment.

Murray made her comments during a 45-minute interview in her office covering a wide range of issues she will face in her new job. During the interview, she expressed concern about the state's revenue picture and suggested that lawmakers should consider new revenue sources.

She said that a special commission is being appointed by the governor and Legislature to review the state's corporate tax structure and report back by June 1 and that if the commission supports any of Patrick's proposed changes in what he calls corporate tax loopholes, the Legislature may pass them this year.

DiMasi, who has said the House budget will not include Patrick's proposed corporate tax changes, has signaled a willingness to consider a broader overhaul of the business tax code.

Murray said members would include chairmen of the Joint Ways and Means Committee and of the Joint Revenue Committee, as well as Republican lawmakers, a representative from the Department of Revenue, and members of the business community. According to people involved in the discussions, others who may be appointed include Leslie Kirwan, secretary of administration and finance; Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation; business people; and academics.

Like her predecessor Robert E. Travaglini, Murray said she is open to casino gambling and hopes that House leaders, who strongly disapprove of gambling, will reconsider their opposition, because it could bring needed jobs and revenue at a time when state revenue is "flat, and our economy is not picking up."

Murray also said the Senate would provide a larger increase in the public education budget than Patrick's proposed $200 million increase, but she said it would be less than the $255 million cost of fully financing the school funding formula the Legislature devised last year to help send more money to suburban communities.

She said she planned to lobby her colleagues against the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. But she said she respected that some of her colleagues had personal or religious reasons for supporting the ban, which was approved in January and needs the support of 50 legislators at a second Constitutional Convention to go before voters in 2008.

"I'm not going to wring anyone's arms," she said.

Murray said the Constitutional Convention, scheduled for May 9, will probably be postponed because the Senate will be focused on the budget then. She said she planned to meet with people on both sides of the gay marriage question this week, but her personal position on gay marriage is firm.

"Both sides deserve access; I'm very clear about that," she said.

Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, a Democrat from Cambridge, filed a repeal of the 1913 law last year after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the law could prevent out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their home states prohibit gay marriage. City and town clerks stopped allowing nonresident gay couples to marry unless they are from Rhode Island: A Massachusetts judge found last September that Rhode Island's laws do not prohibit gay marriage.

The Senate voted to repeal the law as a budget amendment in 2004, but the provision was not included in the final budget. Thomas M. Finneran, an opponent of gay marriage, was the House speaker at the time.

Barrios said he believed that repealing the law is a matter of fairness. Romney, he said, selectively enforced an obscure law to prevent gay couples from marrying in the Bay State. Barrios also said it would be a boon to the state's flagging economy.

"We should want people to come to Massachusetts to get married here and spend money here, and have their guests spend money on hotels and food and lodging," he said.

But Kris Mineau -- president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a socially conservative group that is working to ban same-sex marriage -- said Massachusetts residents would not appreciate a flood of out-of-state gay couples traveling here to wed, and he said it would only add to the legal confusion over gay marriage as different states adopt different laws. "It's just going to further the legal morass across the 50 states on this issue," he said, predicting it would fuel support for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Lawyers supporting gay marriage said that repeal would allow Massachusetts city and town clerks to start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples from around the country; whether the marriage would be recognized by their states would depend on their home state's law.

"It's always been the case that each state has the sovereignty to decide its own marriage policy," said Michele Granda, staff lawyer for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which sued to allow out-of-state couples to marry in the Commonwealth. "Nothing about Massachusetts issuing a license here will change that. They must face the law of the other states."

Mineau said 45 states have statutes or constitutional provisions defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York do not, but New York's highest court defined marriage as a heterosexual union last summer.

While gay marriage advocates praised the legislative leaders and governor for backing the repeal, they said they are not campaigning for it because they are focused on defeating the constitutional amendment. "That is the only marriage battle the gay community is focusing on," said Arline Isaacson, cochair of the Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. "If we lose that, the rest doesn't matter. The 1913 law doesn't matter."