NY High Court to Rule on Gay Marriage

New York High Court To Rule On Gay Marriage
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
July 5, 2006 - 12:00 am ET

(New York City) The Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State, is expected to rule this week, possibly as soon as today, on whether same-sex couples can marry.
The court heard arguments in May in an omnibus case involving four different lawsuits brought by 44 gay and lesbian couples.

Only six justices were on the bench to hear the combined cases. Justice Albert M. Rosenblatt, considered by many a swing vote, recused himself.

In lower courts judges in three of the cases upheld the current ban on same-sex marriage. In the fourth, New York City judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that the New York State Constitution guarantees basic freedoms to lesbian and gay people, and that those rights are violated when same-sex couples are not allowed to marry. That ruling was overturned in a midlevel appeals court.

"Lesbians and gay people who fall in love, make commitments to each other, and raise children together deserve to have all of the protections that married New Yorkers take for granted," ACLU lawyer Roberta Kaplan told the justices.
"Today is an historic day for same-sex couples and their families in New York," said Lambda attorney Susan Sommer who was the first to present arguments today before the court.

"Our bottom line here is that if there are going to be changes, they're going to be done by the Legislature," said Peter Schiff, senior counsel with the attorney general's office. New York City's lawyer, Leonard Koerner, told the court that even if gay marriage were constitutional, it's not the court's role to implement it.
For the justices the issue is determining how broadly the state constitution should be interpreted.

A poll released in April showed that a majority of people across New York State support same-sex marriage.

The case is one of three in state supreme courts. Arguments in New Jersey were heard in February. (story)

In the state of Washington the wait for a ruling on gay marriage has turned into a marathon.

Arguments challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, were made before the Washington state Supreme Court in March 2005. (story)

Meanwhile, in California, a mid level appeals court will hear an omnibus same-sex marriage case next week. That case is expected to reach the California Supreme Court next year.

The only state where same-sex marriage currently legal is Massachusetts. Gay and lesbian couples there began marrying in May 2004 after that state's high court ruled the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.