Gay Marriage Debate Turns to State Recognition

Will the state with bans recognize marriages from other states?

There's a new front in the fight over gay marriage: state-by-state reciprocity.

A legal term for one state recognizing the policy and laws of another, reciprocity will prove central in the fast-approaching debate over whether the three-dozen states with bans on same-sex marriage will have to recognize those performed elsewhere.

In the wake of this week's historic Supreme Court rulings, the question is likely to become the next crucial battleground in the debate in the states over gay marriage. Many expect the issue of whether states have to recognize same-sex marriages to be tackled before the legal fight over the bans themselves. The issue is at the heart of a lawsuit soon to be filed by an openly gay lawmaker in Alabama, as Stateline reported Thursday.