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PENNSYLAVIA MEN LEAGALLY MARRY

by Rex Wockner (printed here without permission)


EAST WASHINGTON -  


     Two Pennsylavania men have managed to get legally married by
outsmarting the system.  Joe Carney, 33, and Devin Michaels, 23, of
East Washington, 25 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, are common law
spouses.
     In April when the couple filed for a marriage license, the clerk
referred them to State Solicitor Bob Weinert.  Weinert told the couple
there is no Pennsylvania law barring gay marrieage but that when
another couple sued for the right to marry, they lost in court.
     Weinert suggested a "back-door" approached - drawing up a statement of
marriage, having it notarized before two witnesses, and filing it with
the Register of Wills.  Weinert said that would make them married
under the common-law statute, granting all spousal rights and
responsibilities, including the need for a legal divorce to unmarry.
The Pennsylavia common-law marriage stature requires only that a
couple "prove cohabiataion and reputation" and resent themselves as
married to the public.
     "When someone tells you you can't do something, don't fly into a
fury.  Figure out how you can do it," Carney counseled readers of
Pittsburgh's gay newpaper "Out".


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Well, I'm glad they did it, but its a shame they had to find a way
"around" the system.

-- 
"Black men loving black men is THE revolutionary act!"
			-Joseph Beam_
Terrance Heath 
heath@athena.cs.uga.edu