New York’s high court punts ‘gay-marriage’ dispute to legislators

New York’s highest court has ruled that the state’s constitution neither requires nor bans the legalization of same-sex “marriage,” saying the question is one for the state’s legislators to decide.

The July 6 ruling dealt a blow to gay-rights activists but was not as broad as many gay-marriage opponents had preferred.

In the 4–2 decision, the New York Court of Appeals said, “the New York constitution does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex. Whether such marriages should be recognized is a question to be addressed by the legislature.”

The New York decision is one of several by state high courts in recent years denying a constitutional right to same-sex “marriage.”

Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex “marriage” after its highest court ruled in 2003 that banning it violated the Massachusetts Constitution. Vermont and Connecticut offer gay couples civil unions, with benefits and responsibilities nearly identical to marriage. California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have “domestic partnership” laws that offer marriage-like advantages to unmarried couples.

The latest ruling came in four separate cases that were combined. In those, 44 New York same-sex couples who wished to marry sued municipal clerks who denied them marriage licenses in various parts of the state, saying the state’s Domestic Relations Law, which deals with marriage in heterosexual-specific terms, violates the New York Constitution’s equal-protection and due-process guarantees.

All lower courts involved had ruled against the plaintiffs, save for one trial court in New York City. Attorneys for the state and the municipalities involved defended the marriage law. The author of the court’s controlling three-person plurality opinion, Judge Robert Smith, said the state’s Domestic Relations Law does not violate the rights of same-sex couples because the law had a rational basis beyond sheer anti-gay prejudice.

The issue is now in the hands of the state’s political leaders, whom gay-rights supporters called on July 6 to pass a same-sex “marriage” bill. A recent poll showed that a slight majority of New Yorkers favor legalizing same-sex “marriage.” Bills to do so, however, have not made it out of committee during recent legislative sessions. (ABP)