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Massachusetts Hours Away from Legal Gay Marriages

By Greg Frost

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Same-sex couples will legally exchange vows on Monday when Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to allow gay marriage, an election-year milestone likely to fuel legal and political battles nationwide.

Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples are expected to seek marriage licenses as of Monday from city and town clerks in Massachusetts, followed by the customary ringing of church bells and the cutting of wedding cakes -- many topped with the figures of two brides or two grooms.

"May 17 is a historic day: It's the day that marks a new chapter of equality for gay and lesbian families," said gay rights activist Marty Rouse. "For the first time in U.S. history, we can receive the critical legal rights and protections that come only through marriage."

Thousands of same-sex couples were married at San Francisco City Hall earlier this year but the marriages were not recognized by the state of California. A mayor in New York state is being prosecuted after performing gay marriages in February.

As of late afternoon on Sunday, about six gay couples had lined up outside City Hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where staff will begin accepting applications at midnight. The first weddings are expected later on Monday morning.

The issue has catapulted Massachusetts into the national spotlight, especially in an election year when its junior senator, Democrat John Kerry , is expected to face Republican President Bush in the race for the White House.

Both candidates oppose gay marriage, with Bush backing a constitutional ban and Kerry favoring limited legal recognition for same-sex couples.

Conservatives have blasted Massachusetts' top court, which ruled last year that a state ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional and allowed same-sex couples to wed legally.

FINAL HURDLE CLEARED

The final hurdle was cleared on Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court failed to block a last-minute legal challenge filed by conservative opponents of same-sex weddings.

A federal appeals court has agreed to hear the case next month, but by that time clerks will probably have granted hundreds of marriage licenses to homosexual couples.

Some may be given to out-of-state gay couples who come to Massachusetts in defiance of Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who has told them to stay home amid fears his state could become "the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage."

Citing a 1913 state law that prevents Massachusetts from marrying any couple if the marriage would be "void" in their home states, Romney's administration has warned clerks they can issue licenses to out-of-state couples only if they plan on settling in Massachusetts.

Several clerks, noting the statute has not been strictly applied to heterosexual couples, plan on issuing licenses to all gay couples who request them. Gay rights advocates plan to challenge the law, and at least two district attorneys will not prosecute clerks who break the statute, The Boston Sunday Globe reported.

It is expected some couples will take their marriage licenses back to states where they may not be not recognized, setting up legal test cases that courts around America will have to resolve.

"The creation of a right to same-sex marriage in the end will not strengthen the institution of marriage within our society but only weaken it as marriage becomes only one lifestyle choice among many others," said Boston's Roman Catholic archbishop, Sean O'Malley.

Tourism officials in Provincetown, the gay mecca on Cape Cod, say they expect at least $1 million in extra business from a wave of gay unions. Owners of a gay wedding registry, Rainbow Wedding Network, say thousands of couples from New England have signed up for gifts.