BOSTON (AP) _ The Massachusetts House voted Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law that had been used to block gay marriages involving out-of-state couples, all but assuring the state will allow same-sex couples to wed regardless of where they live.

The House vote came after the state Senate voted for the repeal earlier this month, and Gov. Deval Patrick has said he will sign the bill. Tuesday's vote was 119-36, after one member on each side of the question was allowed to vote after time expired in the initial roll call. The measure required one more procedural vote in each chamber before being forwarded to the governor.

``Sometimes what you hope and pray for actually happens, which is kind of overwhelming,'' Michael Thorne, 55, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, said after telling his 6-year-old son his parents could soon get married. Thorne and his partner of 25 years, James Theberge, have an Aug. 18 wedding planned in Provincetown, although the repeal will not take effect until 90 days after Patrick's signature.

Opponents recoiled at the outcome.

``With that protective barrier removed, out-of-state same-sex couples who marry here will sue to seek recognition in their home states, creating a flood of costly lawsuits and further eroding the people's right to define marriage democratically,'' the Massachusetts Family Institute said in a statement.

Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay marriage in 2004, but then-Gov. Mitt Romney ordered city and town clerks to enforce the long-dormant 1913 law to bar out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying. The law prohibits couples from marrying if the unions would be illegal in their home states.

Romney, a Republican, had argued that repealing the ban would turn the state into the ``Las Vegas of gay marriage.'' Since then, however, another state _ California _ has begun allowing same-sex marriages.

Some proponents say that repealing the law would allow Massachusetts to share in some of the economic boon California is enjoying. Patrick, the state's first black governor and first Democratic chief executive in 16 years, also argued that the old law carried racial undertones from a time when interracial marriage was discouraged or illegal in some states.

``The 1913 law is outdated and discriminatory. Repealing it is the right thing to do,'' he said in a statement after the vote.

Opponents said the reasons the 1913 law was passed are unclear, and that repealing the ban amounted to meddling in the affairs of other states.

Rep. John Lepper, R-Attleboro, said sanctioning a marriage that is illegal elsewhere would ``create a relationship and then set it adrift to settle in a disapproving state.''

He spoke of a gay couple from Rhode Island that married in Massachusetts and now is seeking a divorce, saying it was typical of the ``legal nightmare'' a repeal would create.

``They can't divorce in Rhode Island because the law does not recognize (the marriage),'' Lepper said. ``They can't divorce in Massachusetts because there is a one-year residency requirement for filing.''

The public debate began in 2001, when a gay couple sued the Massachusetts Department of Health, the agency ultimately charged with administering marriage licenses, seeking ``the freedom to join in civil marriage with the person (you) love.''

In 2003, the SJC voted 4-3 in favor of the plaintiffs in the so-called ``Goodridge'' case. Justices gave the state six months to begin allowing gay marriages.

Romney blocked out-of-staters from flocking to Massachusetts by instructing city and town clerks to enforce the long-dormant ban. He also joined opponents in trying to amend the constitution to ban gay marriages, but the Legislature blocked it from reaching on the ballot.

In the House debate, Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, said continuing to ban out-of-state gays from marrying was unfair in light of the Supreme Judicial Court ruling.

``This is question of fairness, and it is a question of equity,'' Rushing said.

Massachusetts allows first-cousins to marry, but half the states in the country do not. Rushing said some first-cousins from out of Massachusetts had undoubtedly been allowed to marry here since 1913.

``The fairness in this question is that we have allowed people to marry in Massachusetts who could not legally marry in their own state for decades, and now we want to change our way we are applying a bit of law we have never enforced. That, I think, is unfair,'' Rushing said.

Gay rights groups cheered the vote.

I'm really proud of our state Legislature. We've ridded our state laws of the last vestiges of our legal discrimination against same-sex couples, and we once again lead the country for equality,'' said Marc Solomon of MassEquality.

As for the economic consequences, he said: ``Very practically, I have friends who will come to Massachusetts to get married instead of going to California, especially from New York state, where Gov. (David) Paterson has said these marriages will be recognized.''