Cities should obey the Governor and the Law

I was stunned to learn that cities and towns like Worcester, Springfield, Provincetown, and my hometown of Somerville were resisting Governor Romney’s demands that they hand over the marriage license applications from out-of-state couples of the same sex who came to Massachusetts seeking equal treatment under the law. I sincerely hope Mayor Joe Curtatone and his peers in other cities will obey the spirit of Governor Romney’s request and turn over marriage license applications. All of them. I hope to read in tomorrow’s papers that copies of every marriage license application ever issued in the history of Somerville, Worcester, Springfield, and Provincetown were boxed up and shipped to the Governor’s office. Since the law being applied was originally designed and enacted to prevent interracial marriage, perhaps the applications should be filed alphabetically, so Governor’s Romney’s dedicated workers can sift out any suspicious-sounding name combinations (I’m sure they can spot “black” names and “white” names when they see them). The Governor’s staff can make a truly thorough search through all licenses and, in the spirit of equal treatment under the law, seek out any applications that were filed in violation of it.