Federalism vs Anti-Federalism

PROVIDENCE (AP) — Gay couples had to struggle mightily to win the right to marry or form civil unions. Now, some are finding that breaking up is hard to do, too.

In Rhode Island, for example, the state's top court ruled in December that gays married in neighboring Massachusetts can't get divorced here because lawmakers have never defined marriage as anything but a union between a man and woman. In Missouri, a judge is deciding whether a lesbian married in Massachusetts can get an annulment.

"We all know people who have gone through divorces. At the end of that long and unhappy period, they have been able to breathe a sigh of relief," said Cassandra Ormiston of Rhode Island, who is splitting from her wife, Margaret Chambers. But "I do not see that on my horizon, that sigh of relief that it's over."

Over the past four years, Massachusetts has been the only state where gay marriage is legal, while nine other states allow gay couples to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships that offer many of the rights and privileges of marriage. The vast majority of these unions require court action to dissolve.

Gay couples who still live in the state where they got hitched can split up with little difficulty; the laws in those states include divorce or dissolution procedures for same-sex couples. But gay couples who have moved to another state are running into trouble.

This is a perfect example of Federalism vs Anti-federalism in America today. Federalism is where the central government decides how the country runs, while anti-federalism lets the people decide how to make and enforce the rules. Gay marraige is something run in an anti-federalist way with each individual state deciding gay rights on its own. Now some marraiges that are valid in some states arent valid in other states leading to issues when couples want to get divorced. There is no uniformity when deciding how to treat same sex marriges from a governmental point of view.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008