- Joined
- Mar 5, 2004
- Messages
- 4,824
- Reaction score
- 1
Marriage ruling favors NY gay couples
BY JULIET CHUNG
May 16, 2007, 8:27 PM EDT
Same-sex couples from New York whose marriages in Massachusetts faced a legal challenge there have valid marriages in that state, a Massachusetts court found last week, meaning their marriages are presumably legal in New York as well, lawyers say.
The court's judgment affects what lawyers say is at least dozens of New Yorkers who married in Massachusetts between May 2004, when Massachusetts began marrying same-sex couples, and July 2006.
"We're thrilled that this has removed the legal cloud that has been hovering over these marriages," said Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) lawyer Michele Granda, who represents eight couples who served as plaintiffs in Cote-Whitacre v. Department of Public Health. "Now no one else can disparage these licenses."
The validity of the Massachusetts marriage licenses was thrown into doubt when then-Gov. Mitt Romney barred same-sex marriages there, saying they were legal only if the couple's home state allowed them.
New York's Court of Appeals ruled on July 6, 2006, that it did not allow same-sex marriages. But Granda argued, and the Massachusetts court agreed, that couples married before the opinion was issued should be exempt from the ban.
The New York State attorney general's office did not return calls for comment, but Granda said state law provides for marriages being respected in New York if they are valid "where celebrated."
Joe Tarver, spokesman for the Empire State Pride Agenda, said the judgment meant a new group of gay New Yorkers could get access to benefits offered to married couples. Many same-sex couples from New York married in Canada following Romney's ban, to avoid ambiguity about the legality of their marriages, he said. "Obviously, we don't want same-sex couples and their families having to travel out of state to get married," Tarver said.
The decision is their anniversary present, said Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman, the two New York plaintiffs in the case, who married in Massachusetts on May 19, 2004. "Before, there was sort of a question mark" about their marriage, said Zimmerman, 34, a homemaker who lives in Greenwich Village with Wexler and their four children. "It would be, 'We got married in Massachusetts?' Now, it's an exclamation point instead."
Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Inc.
Marriage ruling favors NY gay couples - Newsday.com
BY JULIET CHUNG
May 16, 2007, 8:27 PM EDT
Same-sex couples from New York whose marriages in Massachusetts faced a legal challenge there have valid marriages in that state, a Massachusetts court found last week, meaning their marriages are presumably legal in New York as well, lawyers say.
The court's judgment affects what lawyers say is at least dozens of New Yorkers who married in Massachusetts between May 2004, when Massachusetts began marrying same-sex couples, and July 2006.
"We're thrilled that this has removed the legal cloud that has been hovering over these marriages," said Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) lawyer Michele Granda, who represents eight couples who served as plaintiffs in Cote-Whitacre v. Department of Public Health. "Now no one else can disparage these licenses."
The validity of the Massachusetts marriage licenses was thrown into doubt when then-Gov. Mitt Romney barred same-sex marriages there, saying they were legal only if the couple's home state allowed them.
New York's Court of Appeals ruled on July 6, 2006, that it did not allow same-sex marriages. But Granda argued, and the Massachusetts court agreed, that couples married before the opinion was issued should be exempt from the ban.
The New York State attorney general's office did not return calls for comment, but Granda said state law provides for marriages being respected in New York if they are valid "where celebrated."
Joe Tarver, spokesman for the Empire State Pride Agenda, said the judgment meant a new group of gay New Yorkers could get access to benefits offered to married couples. Many same-sex couples from New York married in Canada following Romney's ban, to avoid ambiguity about the legality of their marriages, he said. "Obviously, we don't want same-sex couples and their families having to travel out of state to get married," Tarver said.
The decision is their anniversary present, said Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman, the two New York plaintiffs in the case, who married in Massachusetts on May 19, 2004. "Before, there was sort of a question mark" about their marriage, said Zimmerman, 34, a homemaker who lives in Greenwich Village with Wexler and their four children. "It would be, 'We got married in Massachusetts?' Now, it's an exclamation point instead."
Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Inc.
Marriage ruling favors NY gay couples - Newsday.com