UPDATE: If you live in NY, please call the governor’s office TODAY and let them know that you support Paterson’s directive. Call 1-518-474-8390 and say “I support the Governor’s directive on marriage equality,” then give them your 5 digit zip code. I did it just this moment, and it really is that easy. The opposition is gearing up and we need to let them know that they’re on the losing side. Go! (Thanks to Angela for the email.)
Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.
In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”
The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.
In a videotaped message given to gay community leaders at a dinner on May 17, Mr. Paterson described the move as “a strong step toward marriage equality.” And people on both sides of the issue said it moved the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state.
“Very shortly, there will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, and probably thousands and thousands and thousands of gay people who have their marriages recognized by the state,” said Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a Democrat who represents the Upper West Side and has pushed for legalization of gay unions.
Massachusetts and California are the only states that have legalized gay marriage, while others, including New Jersey and Vermont, allow civil unions. Forty-one states have laws limiting marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Legal experts said Mr. Paterson’s decision would make New York the only state that did not itself allow gay marriage but fully recognized same-sex unions entered into elsewhere.
The directive is the strongest signal yet that Mr. Paterson, who developed strong ties to the gay community as a legislator, plans to push aggressively to legalize same-sex unions as governor. His predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, introduced a bill last year that would have legalized gay marriage, but even as he submitted it, doubted that it would pass. The Democratic-dominated Assembly passed the measure, but the Republican-led Senate has refused to call a vote on it.
Short of an act by the Legislature, the directive ordered by Mr. Paterson is the one of the strongest statements a state can make in favor of gay unions.
“Basically we’ve done everything we can do on marriage legislatively at this point,” said Sean Patrick Maloney, a senior adviser to Mr. Paterson. “But there are tools in our tool kit on the executive side, and this is one.”
The directive cited a Feb. 1 ruling by a State Appellate Court in Rochester that Patricia Martinez, who works at Monroe Community College and who married her partner in Canada, could not be denied health benefits by the college because of New York’s longstanding policy of recognizing marriages performed elsewhere, even if they are not explicitly allowed under New York law. The appeals court said that New York must recognize marriages performed in other states that allow the practice and in countries that permit it, like Canada and Spain.
I was really proud that the NYS ruling on marriage equality came out of my hometown of Rochester and now I’m also really thrilled that Governor Paterson is doing what he can on this issue. I hope it’s a strong indication that he’s willing to fight on behalf of the LGBT community for marriage equality and other issues at the legislative level. I’d hoped all along that Paterson would be a strong liberal governor who lived up to his reputation as a legislator. This seems like a good sign.
Eliot who?
[Thanks to Brenna for the link.]
That’s fantastic news. It’s so rare to see a straight legislator put his neck on the line for queerfolk.
This is obviously great news, and I’m proud of Paterson, but State Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno (R) is already making noises like he might try to oppose this order. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, though.
I can see that, in the near future, there is going to be a horseshoe-shaped zone (Canada and the coastal states of the United States) of recognition for same sex marriages, with this vast plain of inequality in the middle. I’m not sure what unforeseen consequences that will have in other areas, but I think the NYS ruling is fantastic. Hell yeah!
I am also curious about about what will happen when the European Court of Human Rights rules that same sex marriages performed in one Council of Europe member state have to be recognized in the other forty six. This will happen in the next ten or so years, I think, and I can see it becoming a big deal in countries like Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, etc.
Boo to Bruno. That guy’s such a dick.
The interesting thing though, is that Paterson and Bruno apparently have a really great relationship from their days working together in the legislature. I don’t know how much leverage that will actually give Paterson in the end, but I imagine that it can’t hurt, and he’s certainly doing to do better with Bruno than Spitzer “the fucking steamroller” did.
[...] then give them your 5 digit zip code. I did it just this moment, and it really is that easy. The opposition is gearing up and we need to let them know that they’re on the losing side. Go! (Thanks to Angela for the [...]
[...] May 29, 2008 I found out about this from Feministe: [...]
done =)
Done! I also used this link to email the governor’s office and express support that way.
done! did it!
[...] marriages that were legally performed in other states and countries. Read the rest of this story HERE. Posted in New York, gay, marriage, queer. Tags: california, gay, marriage, new york, queer, [...]
I don’t live in New York, but I used that link above to email the Governor’s office and express my admiration and thanks! Any support is good support, or at least, I figured it couldn’t hurt.
I live in NY and I think it’s AWESOME of Patterson to be trying to get same-sex marriages recognized in NY, but he really is going about it the wrong way. That upsets me because it’s always easier for opponents to stop something dead in its tracks if it’s already not-exactly-legal.
He does not really have the authority to make these recommendations to the agencies. And of course there’s the fact that NY hasn’t yet legalized same-sex marriage. But maybe this will be the first step. =)
(I try to end with optimism)
I’m not convinced, Sally. He’s not forcing NY agencies to recognize non-legal marriages, but legal marriages from other states, which the courts have recently ruled must be recognized. The job of the executive branch is to enforce laws, and if he doesn’t do it, who will? Quite frankly, on an entirely practical level that is not why I support his directive, the longer the ruling is in place while not doing anything about it, the longer he’s setting up the state for slews of lawsuits. The legislature can make changes so long as they’re compliant with the ruling, but that takes a lot more time. Is there some relevant legal principle that I’m unaware of? Because I can’t currently see how he overstepped his bounds.
Good for Paterson. This is an interesting back-door method of making it legal for gay couples to live married in New York State, and I will watch the political battle with interest. Hopefully, if Paterson wins it, liberal governors across the nation will be able to move in a similar fashion.
In states without bleeding constitutional amendments, that is.
Seriously, how petty is it going to look 50-odd years from now, when individual states will have taken it upon themselves to change their constitutions for this? Not just legislate, but amend?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh-oh-oh-oh! i have been tempted to move back to Cal by this!!!! (not really. it costs too much whereever you are… but…..)
now i am vaguely tempted to move to NY……
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!