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May 22, 2007

R.I. Supreme Court to decide gay divorce issue

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island Supreme Court announced today it will hear arguments on whether a same-sex couple married in another state may divorce in Rhode Island.

In an order entered May 21, the Supreme Court outlined a schedule for briefs to be filed in August and assigned the case to its regular calendar for oral arguments.

The Family Court first sent the question to the Supreme Court on Dec. 14, 2006.

The question of law, as clarified by the Family Court, reads: “May the Family Court properly recognize, for the purpose of entertaining a divorce petition, the marriage of two persons of the same sex who were purportedly married in another state?”

Ormiston and Chambers were married in Massachusetts shortly after thast state became the first in the nation to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In January, the court sent the underlying case back to the Family Court.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 2:06 PM | Permalink

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