CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 3 (UPI) -- Cambridge, Mass., plans to hand out marriage applications to same-sex couple within seconds of Massachusetts allowing same-sex marriages.
Same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in Massachusetts beginning May 17, after a state Supreme Court ruling last November. Cambridge officials told the Boston Globe they will open at midnight to begin handing out marriage applications.
The Cambridge City Hall celebration will begin at 11 p.m. May 16 with music and cake. The clerk's office will open an hour later.
"This isn't about is being first, this is about equality and equity. This wasn't a race," Cambridge Mayor Michael Sullivan told the newspaper.
Last November, Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court handed down a decision that said it was unconstitutional to bar same-sex couples from marrying. The state legislature tried to fashion a state constitutional amendment that would address the court's orders but couldn't come up with a plan and Gov. Mitt Romney has also worked to try to keep same-sex marriages from being carried out.
