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NEW PALTZ, N.Y. -- The Social Security Administration is rejecting marriage documents issued for heterosexual couples in five communities that performed weddings for gay couples earlier this year.
The agency is rejecting all marriage certificates issued in New Paltz, N.Y., Asbury Park, N.J., Multnomah County, Ore., and Sandoval County, N.M., during the brief periods when those localities recognized gay marriages.
Susie Kilpatrick, 30, of New Paltz, said the local Social Security office told her that no marriage documents from the town could be used to establish identity if they were issued after Feb. 27, when New Paltz's mayor began marrying gay couples. About 125 heterosexual couples have been married since then.
Kilpatrick said her marriage certificate was rejected when she went to get a new card earlier this month so she could take her husband's name.
"What concerns me is that the certificate is the only way to prove that we're married," she told The New York Times for Sunday editions. "If something happens to us, or some other couple from New Paltz, we can't prove we're married. We would not be able to draw benefits."
No word on Mass. marriages. Perhaps the SSA needs to set up a system of local crotch inspectors. Hey, John Ashcroft needs something to do...