News :: GLBT
NY court: Married gay couples entitled to benefitsMonday Nov 23, 2009 New York’s top court ruled Nov. 19 that gay couples legally married elsewhere are entitled to some government benefits, boosting stalled legislative efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
The Court of Appeals rejected a Christian legal group’s argument that same-sex marriage was akin to incest and polygamy, although the court avoided declaring that gay couples are entitled to all the rights of other married couples.
The 4-3 decision was on the narrow question of benefits; the court did not address whether the state must recognize same-sex marriage but encouraged the Legislature to settle the issue.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which challenged the benefits, said it was disappointed that thecourt chose not to rule on the validity of what it calls "counterfeit marriages."
"In New York, the only relationship recognized as marriage is the committed union of a man and a woman," said Brian Raun, senior counsel for the group. "State and local officials should not attempt to use marriage laws from outside jurisdictions to place their political agendas ahead of the law."
Gay rights advocates said the decision is the latest in a string of wins that bolsters their case for the state Senate to give final approval to a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.
The Democrat-led Assembly passed a bill this year to legalize same-sex marriage, but it hasn’t yet reached the floor in the Democrat-led Senate, which has promised to vote by the end of the year but where the measure appears a few votes short of passage.
"It absolutely builds momentum," Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle said. "It’s another court saying the state Senate should act and clarify the issue."
Now, 20 New York judges in different cases have supported government rights for same-sex couples, said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization.
"The ball is now in the state Senate’s court," she said.
Many gay New Yorkers have been married in a handful of states and Canada but reside in New York and seek hundreds of government benefits and rights they say they’ve been denied.
Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Vermont and was for a time in California. A New Hampshire law takes effect next year, and voters in Maine repealed a law this month that would have allowed same-sex marriage.
With Thursday’s court decision, legally married same-sex couples will be entitled to public employee health insurance coverage and certain other benefits provided to heterosexual spouses. - Michael Gormley, Associated Press
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