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Oct 9, 2007 11:18 am US/Eastern
Lesbian Couple Wants Landmark Same-Sex Divorce
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) ―
A lesbian couple married in Massachusetts should have the same right as heterosexual couples to now divorce in Rhode Island, lawyers for the women told the state's highest court on Tuesday.
Cassandra Ormiston and Margaret Chambers wed in 2004 soon after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages. They filed for divorce last year in their home state of Rhode Island, where the law is silent on whether same-sex marriages are legal.
It is believed to be the state's first same-sex divorce case.
If the women can't divorce in Rhode Island, their lawyers said the only legal avenue available to them would be to move to Massachusetts and live there long enough to obtain a divorce.
In arguments before the Rhode Island Supreme Court, lawyers said the only question to consider was whether the state could recognize a valid same-sex marriage from another state for the sole purpose of granting a divorce petition.
They stressed the case has no bearing on whether gay couples can get married in Rhode Island.
"You have a valid marriage in the state of Massachusetts," Louis Pulner, an attorney for Chambers, told the justices. "No one is asking the court to address the question of whether such marriages would be valid in Rhode Island."
The justices did not indicate when they would rule.
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