Order to recognize gay marriages in N.Y. denounced
ALBANY, N.Y. - Opposition surfaced yesterday against Governor David Paterson's directive to New York agencies to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states and countries.
The Rev. Duane Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms said the Democrat "slapped the people in the face by circumventing their representatives," while New York's Catholic bishops said "just as the state cannot declare a man to be a 'mother' or a woman to be a 'father,' it cannot declare a same-sex union to be a 'marriage'."
Paterson issued a memo earlier this month saying gay New Yorkers who marry where it is legal will have the right to share family healthcare plans, receive tax breaks by filing jointly, enjoy stronger adoption rights, and inherit property.
Paterson cited a February ruling in a New York Appellate Division court in which the judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage.
While gay rights advocates hailed the move, the feeling was not unanimous.
Joseph Bruno, a Republican and the state Senator majority leader, opposes gay marriage and questioned the constitutionality of Paterson's action, but said in a morning news conference yesterday that he had not seen the memo.
Bruno said he was surprised when he read news reports about the memo and plans to speak to Paterson. Bruno also noted the state's highest court has found gay marriage isn't legal within the state. The high court hasn't yet taken up the issue of whether gay marriages performed legally out of state are valid in New York.
"You have to understand that the court, the highest court here in New York State, made it very, very clear that the only union that is legal in New York State, to perform a marriage ceremony, is between a man and a woman," Bruno said, citing a 2006 Court or Appeals ruling.
