Advocate dot comBy William Henderson
From The Advocate June 19, 2007
On April 1, day 87 of his first term as governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick ordered the marriages of 26 out-of-state gay couples who had wedded just after same-sex marriage became legal in his state on May 17, 2004—and just before nonresident licenses were effectively blocked—to be registered in the state's vital records. It was an action his Republican predecessor, presidential candidate Mitt Romney, had steadfastly refused to allow, citing a dusty 1913 state law that prohibited recognition of marriages that would not be legal in couples' home states.
