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Women Who Moved to Pa. Ask US Court To Force State To Recognize Their Marriage

By Jim Melwert

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A same-sex couple is filing a legal challenge that would force Pennsylvania to recognize out-of-state gay marriages.

The case involves two women who were legally married in 2005, when they lived in Massachusetts.  But when they moved to Pennsylvania in 2009, their marriage was not recognized under state law.

Now, a motion for summary judgement has been filed in US District Court in Philadelphia that would force Pennsylvania to recognize their marriage.

"The basis of the argument is, under the 14th Amendment of the United States, it violates both due process and equal protection," says Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum.  "It violates the 'full faith and credit' clause of our Constitution, and also the judicially recognized right to travel."

Lazin says this could be the next major gay marriage case to reach the US Supreme Court.   And if it does, it could change gay marriage laws in the roughly thirty states that have statutes similar to Pennsylvania's.

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