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NYCLU Victory Prompts Gov. Paterson to Recognize Marriages Between Lesbian and Gay Couples
The New York Civil Liberties Union today applauded Gov. David Paterson's leadership in recognizing the marriages of gay and lesbian couples entered into outside of New York State. In response to a NYCLU victory in the case Martinez v. County of Monroe, the governor has directed all state agencies to follow the law and begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, California and Canada.
The New York Civil Liberties Union today applauded Gov. David Paterson’s leadership in recognizing the marriages of gay and lesbian couples entered into outside of New York State. In response to a NYCLU victory in the case Martinez v. County of Monroe, the governor has directed all state agencies to follow the law and begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, California and Canada.
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The New York Civil Liberties Union today applauded Gov. David Paterson’s leadership in recognizing the marriages of gay and lesbian couples entered into outside of New York State. In response to an NYCLU victory in the case Martinez v. County of Monroe, the governor has directed all state agencies to follow the law and begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed in other jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, California and Canada.
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“This is a milestone in the fight for fairness in New York,” said Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU’s executive director. “For the first time, couples in New York who have never known true security for their families will be officially entitled to treatment by our state government that respects their rights. They should now finally get a taste of the family protections other married couples and their children enjoy.”
Martinez v. County of Monroe was brought by the NYCLU with cooperating attorney Jeffrey Wicks on behalf of Patricia Martinez. Martinez, an employee of Monroe Community College in Rochester, sought health care benefits for her wife whom she married in Canada in 2004. The case was filed in 2005 in State Supreme Court.
In February of this year, an appellate court unanimously affirmed the couple’s marriage the first appellate court decision in the state and the first known decision in the country to hold that a valid same-sex marriage must be recognized. Monroe County then requested that the state’s highest court review and overrule the Fourth Department’s decision.
Earlier this month, the state’s highest court declined to review the case, allowing the appellate court’s decision to remain the statewide law in New York. Paterson’s directive, then, is simply for the state to follow the law by acknowledging it is New York’s policy to recognize the marriages of lesbian and gay couples.
“Now it’s time for our legislature to allow all of New York’s families to live with dignity,” Lieberman said. “New Yorkers shouldn’t have to leave the state to protect their families.”