May

18

170 New York Gay Marriages Upheld - For Now

May 18, 2007 |

It isn’t over but it’s another avenue to secure same sex marriage in New York through the courts.

NEW YORK (AP) – The ”marriages” of more than 170 gay couples from New York who wed in Massachusetts before last July are valid because New York had not yet explicitly banned same-sex marriages, a Massachusetts judge ruled.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders had asked for clarification of the status of New York couples who married in Massachusetts before the New York Court of Appeals ruled against same-sex marriages on July 6, 2006. Couples are barred from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriages would be prohibited in their home states. Massachusetts became the first state in the country to allow gay marriage in May 2004.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly ruled last week that those early marriages are legally valid, saying that same-sex marriages became “prohibited” in New York only on July 6, 2006.

But Michael Long, who heads New York’s politically influential Conservative Party, predicted Connolly’s ruling wouldn’t hold up in New York.

“It’s wishful thinking by some homosexual couples that the interpretation of a particular judge will change their status,” Long said. “The law in the state of New York is very clear — marriage is between a man and a woman.”


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