NPR  reports this week, Same-sex marriage is legal in just four U.S. states — New Hampshire will become the fifth on Jan. 1 — a situation that forces gay couples everywhere else to travel to places like Vermont and Iowa to be wed.

Two Michigan State University professors think there’s a better way. They say states that offer same-sex marriage should allow couples anywhere in the country to obtain a marriage license online. But skeptics of this plan abound.

Reasearchers  Adam Candeub and  Mae Kuykendall are law professors at Michigan State University. They say marriage laws need to be more experimental, in ways that meet the needs of couples and the state.

“What we’re arguing for is that states should formalize in their laws what they’ve always been doing in smaller degrees in specific areas, which is, allow people outside their states to use their laws,” Candeub said.

With an “e-marriage,” Candeub believes couples anywhere could go online and download their license from a state where same-sex marriage is legal. Then, they could still have their hometown ceremony with family and friends, the kiss and the cake.

Still, the concept fails to change the reality that the vast majority of states refuse to recognize same-sex marriage. And online marriage could pose an economic threat to states where it is legal.

In Iowa, for instance, a 2008 UCLA study predicted that same-sex marriage could generate $160 million in new revenue there in just three years.

Candeub and Kuykendall are still tweaking their legal proposal. But they say the idea is gaining momentum. And they say they’re willing to advise any legislator looking to extract their state from the culture wars of same-sex marriage and the politics of geography.

Source NPR.  and  E- Marriage.