A Massachusetts court has validated marriages for up to 200 gay and lesbian couples from New York who wed in Massachusetts between 2004 and 2006, clarifying a previous ruling that failed to acknowledge them. "Same-sex marriage only became 'prohibited' in New York on July 6, 2006," Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly found in a May 10 ruling issued overnight by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which fought for the right of out-of-state couples to marry in Massachusetts. On that date, New York's highest court denied the right of same-sex couples to marry in New York, and Judge Connolly found that no explicit ban existed before then. The ruling affects between 100 and 200 New York couples, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders said. "The marriages are now legally valid in New York and they should expect to be treated as married couples," said Carisa Cunningham, a spokeswoman for GLAD in Boston. In 2003, Massachusetts' highest court ruled that a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, clearing the way for the nation's first same-sex marriages in May 2004. More than 8000 gay and lesbian couples have since married. But to prevent the liberal New England state from becoming a US destination for gay couples to wed, former governor Mitt Romney, who is now seeking the Republican nomination for president, swiftly spearheaded a ban on same-sex marriage for out-of-state couples. He invoked a 1913 law, originally designed to uphold other states' bans on interracial marriage, that bars couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriages would be prohibited in their home states. Massachusetts's highest court ruled in his favour on March 2006, validating the 1913 law and barring gay and lesbian couples from states that maintain an "express prohibition" on same-sex marriages from marrying in Massachusetts. Judge Connolly had ruled that New York same-sex couples could not marry in Massachusetts as a result of New York's 6th July 2006 decision. But GLAD pushed back and asked about New York couples who had married in Massachusetts between May 2004 and July 2006. Judge Connolly's ruling this month validated those marriages, GLAD said. Ref: News.com.au (m)