Could Online Gay Marriage Licenses Be The Solution To Marry In Your Home Town (Even If It’s Banned)

The number of states where gay marriage is legal will rise to five on January 1st 2010 as New Hampshire joins Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. This means that there is now one more option for gay and lesbian couples who want to marry out of state, but two Michigan State University professors believe they have come up with an even better option – that states offering same sex marriage should allow couple to obtain a marriage license online, wherever they are based in the country.

Saying that they believe marriage laws need to be more flexible in meeting the needs of both the couple and the state, Adam Candeub, who is working on the theory alongside fellow law professor Mae Kuykendall, said “states should formalize in their laws what they’ve always been doing in smaller degrees in specific areas, which is, allow people outside their states to use their laws”.

Describing how the process would work, Candeub said an “e-marriage” could see couples go online and download a license from a state where gay marriage was legal, and then have their ceremony within the hometown they lived, as opposed to have to travel miles with their family to do so. He also highlighted such a move would not only benefit gay and lesbian couples, but also heterosexual couples in the military.

There is however one downside for the states who allow gay marriage to allow this service, and it’s a big one – money.

One of the biggest factors in trying to convince New York and New Jersey that gay marriage was worth legalizing was the economic benefit it could have, with millions being poured thanks the ceremonies, gifts and visitors in state. If e-marriages were allowed then these states would undoubtedly find themselves as very popular with the LGBT community, but perhaps not with the state banks.