US court hears gay marriage challenge

BOSTON, June 27 (Reuters) A lesbian couple from Rhode Island argued in court on Monday for the right to marry in Massachusetts, the only US state where gay marriage is legal, in a potentially precedent-setting case.

Lawyers for Mary Norton and Wendy Becker told a Suffolk County Superior Court judge that a ban on non-resident gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts should not apply to them because Rhode Island does not expressly ban same-sex marriage.

If successful, the couple's case could pave the way for same-sex couples who reside in states with similar laws to marry in Massachusetts, said Michele Granda, a lawyer at Gay&Lesbian Advocates&Defenders, which represents the couple.

''If we're successful on the present facts in Rhode Island, it's possible that other states that don't have a discriminatory marriage law against same sex couples might also be able to prove that they are entitled to marry in Massachusetts,'' she told Reuters after the hearing.

Along with Rhode Island, such states are New York, New Jersey and New Mexico. Washington D.C. also has similar laws.

Massachusetts' highest court ruled in 2003 that it was unconstitutional to ban gay marriage, paving the way for America's first same-sex marriages in May the following year.

Gay marriage has since become a socially divisive issue across the country. Legal challenges seeking permission for gays and lesbians to marry are pending in 12 states.

The latest case comes less than three weeks after the U.S.

Senate voted down a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and three months after Massachusetts' top court ruled that gay couples from U.S. states that ban same-sex marriages cannot legally be wed in Massachusetts.

That ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a 1913 law barring out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their own states fail to recognize the union.

But the court, in its March decision, said it would leave to a lower-court judge to decide if gay and lesbians from states that do not expressly ban gay marriage can marry in Massachusetts.

A decision in the latest case is expected in two to six weeks.

Mary Norton said she has waited 18 years to marry Wendy Becker and said they both would move their fight to Rhode Island's courts if they lose in Massachusetts.

''We feel like we have had a very long engagement and we're willing to continue to fight so we can eventually get married,'' said Norton, standing next to Becker, who described their feelings as ''really optimistic''.

''We're focused on hopefully getting married in Massachusetts and we really think that is going to happen,'' Becker told journalists after the hearing.

Reuters SK VP0625