Same-sex marriage struggle heats up

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.