Some of this may sound like a bar exam civil procedure question, but this CNN article describes something that has been percolating for quite a while. As reported by the AP, a Rhode Island same-sex couple married in Massachusetts after the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court legalized gay marriages in 2004 has recently filed for divorce in Rhode Island. Rhode Island state law neither expressly recognizes or prohibits same-sex marriages. A hearing is set in the case on December 5, 2006.
The Iowa "gay divorce" case (the dissolution of a Vermont civil union) appealed to Iowa Supreme Court was ultimately dismissed without a substantive ruling on the issue presented in the Rhode Island case when the court determined the various groups and other individuals challenging the ruling lacked standing to bring the appeal.
