THE US: State-approved marriage licences are to be issued to gay and lesbian couples for the first time in the US early today in Massachusetts.
This historic move comes after the State Supreme Court ruled in favour last year of seven gay couples that sued for the right to marry in Massachusetts.
The court ruling said it was unconstitutional to deny marriage rights to gays and lesbians.
The United States now becomes the fourth country in the world with gay marriage.
The Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Canada already have state-approved same-sex marriage, with the whole of Canada expected to approve gay marriage soon. The Netherlands led the way three years ago, becoming the first country to legalise gay marriage.
The town of Cambridge, home of Harvard college, was the first to issue licences to gay and lesbian couples at Cambridge City Hall from midnight last night.
While gay couples have been married in other states, like California and New York, the marriages were deemed illegal and were not state sanctioned.
The granting of marriage licences in Massachusetts will trigger legal and political battles all across the US in this presidential election year.
President George Bush supports a nation-wide constitutional ban on gay marriage, while Democratic challenger Mr John Kerry backs lesser civil unions, while opposing full marriage rights for gay couples. The issue promises to be high on the political agenda as November voting approaches.
Legal complications will occur when gay couples legally married in Massachusetts seek to have that marriage recognised in other US states.
While some states favour a state ban on gay marriage, that move would run counter to the legal requirement that marriages registered anywhere in the Unites States must be recognised throughout the US. Many legal test cases seem certain.
However, today's celebrating couples face the possibility of a Massachusetts referendum in 2006 to overturn the Supreme Court decision. Conservatives in the state legislature and Massachusetts governor, Republican Mitt Romney, have been campaigning hard against the ruling.
Even if conservatives manage to roll back the Supreme Court decision in 2006, the bulk of legal opinion is that the hundreds or thousands of gay marriages conducted in the intervening time will not be nullified.
Campaigners for gay marriage are confident that public opinion is moving their way. While the majority of Americans certainly oppose gay marriage, opinion polls show a much higher and growing acceptance of it among the young.
While the Catholic Church in the US has condemned the start of gay marriage in Massachusetts, others look forward to a blossoming tourist industry in the state, as gay couples come to tie the knot in such places as Provincetown, the gay mecca at the end of Cape Cod.