Same-sex marriage struggle heats up
By
LeiLani Dowell
New York
Published Feb 13, 2005 8:50 PM
New York Supreme Court
Judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled on Feb. 4 that the state constitution guarantees
basic freedoms to lesbians and gays--including the freedom to marry.
The
ruling was the outcome of a lawsuit filed last year by Lambda Legal on behalf of
five same-sex couples. The suit was a response to the denial of marriage
licenses last year when more than 100 couples demanded them from the city
clerk's office here. The case was the first filed in New York since same-sex
marriage was legalized in Massachusetts.
In a 62-page decision, Judge
Cohan said that the state's Domestic Relations Law--which dates back to 1909 and
limits marriages to opposite-sex partners--violated the guarantee of equal
protection and due process found in the New York Constitution.
The ruling
also stated, "The challenges to laws banning whites and nonwhites from marriage
demonstrate that the fundamental right to marry the person of one's choice may
not be denied based on longstanding and deeply held traditional beliefs about
appropriate marital partners."
The very next day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
announced his intention to appeal the decision, sending it to the state's
highest court--the seven-member Court of Appeals. Claiming that he none theless
approved of same-sex marriage, the billionaire mayor cited the "chaos" that
ensued when same-sex couples were allowed to marry in San Fran cisco as his
reason for challenging the ruling.
The Feb. 4 ruling would have required
the city to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples within 30 days. Now it
is unclear when the court will hear the appeal. Lawyers estimate that it may be
anytime from this spring to well into next year.
A favorable ruling in
the appellate court could broaden the application of the Feb. 4 ruling to the
entire state.
Forces are already mobilizing for the fight. Pride at
Work--the lesbian, gay, bi and trans constituency group of the AFL-CIO--released
a statement that in the face of an appeal, they "look forward to recruiting
labor organizations to sign on to an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit."
The group cited the number of unions that signed a similar brief in Washington
state.
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