The moment the Massachusetts Legislature says gay couples in the state can get married, Cambridge residents should be able to walk into city clerk offices and get marriage licenses, Cambridge city councilors agreed last night.

The council unanimously passed a resolution at its weekly meeting last night calling for the city clerk to ‘take all necessary steps to remove any impediment to same-sex marriage and to issue marriage licenses as soon as is legally possible.’ The resolution came in response to last Tuesday’s state Supreme Judicial Court ruling that said banning gay marriages is unconstitutional in Massachusetts.

While originally intended to direct the clerk to start issuing actual licenses as soon as this week, Councilors Denise Simmons and Brian Murphy co-sponsors of the resolution changed the focus of order after conferring with the city solicitor and other legal experts. The advisors said Cambridge should abide by the SJC’s directive to the Legislature, which put a 180-day timestamp on legislative discussions.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health had also sent a memo to all city clerks on Wednesday, Nov. 19 the day after the SJC decision came down warning clerks against issuing marriage licenses before the allotted 180 days. Responding to ‘media reports indicating that some clerks’ offices’ were considering issuing licenses before the 180 days were up, the DPH stressed that doing so would ‘violate the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling.’

With the passage of Monday’s resolution, Cambridge has the next 173 days (as of today) to ready the city in every way possible for gay marriage. The council passed four resolutions having to do with the SJC ruling.

‘The barriers of civil rights to the [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] community my community have been lifted,’ Simmons said to her colleagues, imploring them pass the resolution in order to ‘remove impediments’ to gay marriage.

Before the meeting, Simmons discussed how the city could fulfill the council’s order, even though the resolution to immediately issue marriage licenses was withdrawn. Simmons’ suggestions included changing paperwork, creating brochures to outline the responsibilities and benefits of same-sex marriages and holding discussions to increase tolerance.

Councilor Kenneth Reeves, who had just returned from the annual gathering of the International Network of Lesbian and Gay Officials, praised the SJC and encouraged the council to pass the resolution and work toward equality for all.

‘I didn’t realize how free I had not been,’ Reeves, who has been with his partner for 33 years, said.

‘I’m hoping we’ll have a lot of discussion within our community about what marriage means,’ Reeves said after the council meeting. Cambridge residents might not understand the particulars of the SJC decision, and Vermont’s dealings with civil unions showed ‘community discussion is a good thing,’ he added.

One Cambridge resident, who attended the council meeting with high hopes, was pleased with the outcome.

‘It’s gratifying that the council seems to have a very clear understanding of the SJC’s decision,’ said 41-year-old Robb Johnson, a Cambridge resident for 13 years. ‘Unlike the governor, they seem to understand that the decision is clear,’ he said, referring to Gov. Mitt Romney’s statements over the past week endorsing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages and introducing a version of civil unions to fulfill the SJC’s decision.

But Simmons said civil unions would not suffice. Councilor Marjorie Decker passionately agreed, saying, ‘When people love each other, no matter who they are, you have a better community.’

Decker argued for passing the resolution as quickly as possible to ensure that all benefits would be restored to gay couples, especially health benefits, which she said Cambridge had to ‘yank away’ from its residents in 2000. That SJC decision, which revoked domestic partnership benefits from gay couples as a result of a lawsuit brought by a Christian fundamentalist group, was ‘criminal,’ Decker said.

‘Anyone who doesn’t get this, at this point, needs to wake up and join 2003,’ she said.

The second resolution, also passed unanimously, called for the City Manager to report back to the council on how the SJC ruling would ‘impact the city’s ability to once again extend benefits to same-sex partners of city employees.’ The other two resolutions, supported by all councilors, called for a council discussion of gay marriage and pushed the state Legislature to act quickly to enact legislation implementing the court’s ruling.