Jumpin' on the Same-Sex Bandwagon

Well, well, well. California's Ahnuld, the Governator,supreme court has pushed the equal-rights revolution forward, and New York State is jumping on the bandwagon. I don't know why this story is just now breaking, given that David Paterson, governor of my state, apparently issued the directive in question on May 14, but here it is, from the New York Times:

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 moves the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state. ...

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, and the Republican-led Senate rejected 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. ...

While gay rights advocates widely praised the spirit of the Mr. Paterson’s policy, some saw more than a little irony in the fact that New York has yet to allow gays to marry.

"If you're going to treat us as equals, why don't you just give us the marriage license?" said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda. "So this is a temporary but necessary fix for a longer-term problem, which is marriage equality in New York State."

Yes, Alan, equal treatment should be the rule, but this is a good start.



same-sex marriage gay rights GLBT LGBT equal rights civil rights California
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