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My wife and I were married legally in British Columbia in May. Not even thinking about it, once we got the marriage certificate, my wife trotted on down to registries and started the name change process. Not a big deal at all here in Canada, but boy did that change when we entered the US for our honeymoon! We had to see US Immigration twice - once leaving Canada at the airport, and again entering the US from our cruise. Neither officer hesitated to express his opinion on same sex marriage. I think if they could have, they would have denied entry. A big change when we returned to home - all the Canadian Customs officer asked was what our relationship was. She didn't blink an eye when we said married and welcomed us back home. I've never felt like such a second class citizen as I did in the US - we are so glad to be home where we have the same rights as everyone else! Next time, I think we are going to just fill out 2 declaration forms instead of trying to travel as a family when US Customs is involved. (We didn't have any problem with Bahamas, by the way) This isn't a US bashing session - just think before you change your name if you are planning on travelling outside Canada.

Wow! That's intense!

Even couples who live in MA and are legally married by US law have difficulties whenever traveling and dealing with federal law. A couple of friends of mine have also discussed the extra expense and difficulty they have when filing as a couple for joint taxes at the state level and then as individuals at the federal level.

What upset me most about your post was how the officers had to make comments about same sex marriage (which I assume was a negative opinion, though you didn't explicitly say). That's just not right.

Hm. That was totally unprofessional of those officers to express their opinion about it at all- not part of their job and a disgrace to the US as it's representatives to others. Josi had fun telling the border officers I was her wife on our way in and out of Canada for the second part of our honeymoon. The woman on the way up just smiled and the man on the way back just kind of smirked, I think because she declared it with such glee- we were still flying pretty high. Recognition in general is indeed a case of opposites for us, as a married couple in Massachusetts dealing with differing state and federal laws. I'm afraid to travel in general because of our lack of recognition anywhere else (although I love that we now have a "corridor" of varying legal rights here from Connecticut to Canada). -Kate-

wow. Im ashamed to be an American. Land of the free my ass! I have no idea what life in Canada would be like, so it's a little hard to think about leaving the USA