About 2,500 gay couples sought licenses in 1st week

Nearly 2,500 gay and lesbian couples applied for marriage licenses in the first week that Massachusetts extended the right to same-sex couples, according to a Boston Globe survey of city and town clerks.

The city of Cambridge, which got a jump on the rest of the state by opening City Hall at midnight on May 17, drew the most marriage applications from same-sex couples, with 310 by the end of that week. Provincetown was next with 225 same-sex couples (and one heterosexual couple).

Even smaller towns got their share of applicants.

"I was surprised I got any here," said Jeanne Pryor, the clerk in Becket, a town of 1,700 in the Berkshires. "But we had two."

The Globe survey found 265 communities with at least one same-sex couple applying. There were a total of 2,468 applications from same-sex couples.

The couples traveled from all over the nation, though not in the flood that some had expected. At least 164 out-of-state couples came to Massachusetts to get married, from 27 states and Washington, D.C. Nearly one-third hailed from New York, including 23 from New York City alone. Another third came from nearby New England states. The rest came from as far away as Alabama, Tennessee, California, and Washington state.

One month later, not all of those marriages are sure to be legal. Among the out-of-staters, 56 couples wrote on their applications that they do not intend to move to Massachusetts, apparently violating residency rules set out by Governor Mitt Romney. Those couples applied in the four towns that were openly defying the governor -- Provincetown, Somerville, Springfield, and Worcester -- and in Attleboro, which was doing so quietly.

But now those dissenting clerks have joined the majority, following Romney's interpretation of state law by accepting applications from out-of-staters only if they declare an intention to move here. Still, the only proof required is the couple's word.

A Missouri couple who got their license in Springfield won't be moving here anytime soon. Robert Segarra, 44, a pharmaceutical company executive from St. Louis, and James Belisle, 38, who grew up in Ludlow, said they plan to move closer to Belisle's family one day. But a move would mean giving up the 105-year-old Victorian mansion they have been renovating in St. Louis for two years.

Segarra said he is concerned that Massachusetts officials could crack down before the couple can establish residency here, but he is too busy planning his wedding to worry about it.

"I'm still tallying the guest list," Segarra said.

The clerks responding to the survey represented 347 of the state's 351 communities, accounting for 99.8 percent of the state's population. Though the count of licenses from that first week, May 17 through 21, is nearly complete, the number of actual marriages won't be known for some time, because a marriage license is valid for 60 days. The number of out-of-state couples still could grow, because many clerks have not yet provided the Globe with copies of the marriage applications, a public document known as the Notice of Intention of Marriage, which shows residence. The Globe counted 23 cities and towns that accepted at least one application where both parties lived out of state.

Boston had 146 same-sex couples apply. Romney's hometown, Belmont, had 11 same-sex couples, all of them Massachusetts residents.

"We were anticipating larger amounts than we got, with the exception of a few of the towns," said Linda Hutchenrider of Barnstable, president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks' Association. "The first week we all got a good amount of these. But everything is back to normal now. Life is flowing smoothly."

Among the occupations listed on the marriage applications: state trooper and stand-up comic (though not marrying each other), pastor and pastry chef, flight attendant and farmer, attorney and at-home mom. (See Boston.com for a list of occupations.)

Some started planning their weddings on Nov. 18, when the state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry. For others, it was a more spontaneous decision. A Montana couple, traveling for the wedding of lesbian friends, decided they too would get married in Massachusetts.

"So we just delayed our trip a little bit," said Kate McInnerney, 43, a research associate in Bozeman. "Things got really hairy that first week. We really were uncertain if the governor was having an injunction or what."

She and her partner, English professor Amy Thomas, 44, did not claim on their application at Somerville City Hall that they planned to live in Massachusetts. But McInnerney said that a medical emergency could prompt them to move here.

"If one of us got really sick, we'd probably move immediately to make sure our rights were respected," she said. Montana has no provisions for same-sex partners in medical emergencies.

Clerks said that some out-of-state couples were probably discouraged by Romney's warnings. The governor, who opposes same-sex marriage, has invoked a 1913 law barring couples from marrying here if their union would not be legally recognized in their home state. He has promised to void marriage certificates issued to couples that do not already live in Massachusetts or plan on moving here. He also supports a proposed November 2006 ballot amendment that would ban gay marriage and create civil unions for gay couples.

"People want a valid marriage," said Cambridge's city clerk, D. Margaret Drury. "So, I think the cloud the governor cast on the whole process had (out-of-state) people taking a wait-and-see approach." She said some couples heeded advice from Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which urged people to wait until the rules became clearer. GLAD is now preparing a lawsuit to challenge the law that prevents certain out-of-staters from marrying in Massachusetts.

But couples from Rhode Island to California took the chance anyway, some vowing to seek recognition of their marriages back home, others just glad to have had the ceremony.

"There's just no way it's going to be legal in Arizona anytime soon. And I'm 60. This is the one opportunity," said Judith McDaniel, of Tucson, who married her longtime partner, Jan Schwartz, in Provincetown on May 20.

"It doesn't mean anything in Arizona," Schwartz said, but "it's kind of fun to be part of history."

The biggest problem for town officials, said clerk Dorothy Risser in west suburban Hudson, has been adjusting to the new form for marriage applications. The sections for "bride" and "groom" are now marked "Party A" and "Party B," and at the bottom of the form, each person is asked to check either male or female. The gender question is so far down on the form, clerks say, that it doesn't always fit properly on the typewriter roll.

"That part doesn't even fit in the typewriter," Risser said. "So you have to make sure you don't forget it."

Some clerks turned away the out-of-state couples who did not promise to move here.

Karen Rahmeier grew up in Winchester, and wanted to get her marriage license in Winchester, but now she lives in Madison, Wis., with her partner.

"It would have been great to get married in my hometown," said Rahmeier, 38. "The Winchester clerk wasn't willing to do it."

So they went to Somerville for the license. As soon as she got home after their wedding on Cape Cod, Rahmeier, a computer programmer for the state of Wisconsin, met with the personnel director, who told her the rights of same-sex married partners have not been tested there. Rahmeier and her partner hope that Wisconsin will repeal its ban on same-sex unions by the time they retire, so they can take advantage of insurance, pension and death benefits, among others.

"We are biding our time," Rahmeier said. "We really don't want to be the test case, but we will if we have to."

Globe correspondent Elise Castelli contributed to this report. Bill Dedman can be reached at Dedman@globe.comA complete tally of cities and towns, and a list of occupations, is online at Boston.com.