New York Governor Faces Gay Marriage Fight

(CBS/AP)  Religious and social conservatives vowed Thursday to fight the governor's directive requiring state agencies to recognize gay marriages performed legally elsewhere, saying it flouts traditional values and is a big step toward legalizing same-sex unions in New York.

"The definition of marriage predates recorded history," said New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. "No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose."

Gov. David Paterson issued a memo earlier this month saying that gay New Yorkers who marry where it is legal will have the right to share family health care plans, receive tax breaks by filing jointly, enjoy stronger adoption rights and inherit property.

He cited a February ruling in a New York Appellate Division court in which the judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage.

Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage in the nation's most populous state is legal. The ruling overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

At a Manhattan news conference on Thursday, Paterson, a Roman Catholic, defended the directive, saying failure to issue it would have left the state open to lawsuits claiming the state deprived gay couples of civil rights enjoyed in other states.

"We have a time-held and time-tested tradition honoring those marital rights," Paterson said. "I am taking the same approach that this state always has with respect to out-of-state or marriages conducted in foreign governments being recognized here in the state of New York. I am following the law as it has always existed."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, traveling with the President on Thursday, said she had only seen a brief report about the directive.

"I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people who analyze the legal ramifications of it. I think the President's point is that judges shouldn't be making these decisions; the people should be making these decisions," Perino said.

Earlier Thursday, state Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who opposes gay marriage, questioned the constitutionality of Paterson's action but said he hadn't yet seen the memo.

Bruno said the state's highest court has found gay marriage isn't legal within the state. The high court hasn't yet taken up the issue of whether gay marriages performed legally out of state are valid in New York.

"You have to understand that the court, the highest court here in New York state, made it very very clear that the only union that is legal in New York state, to perform a marriage ceremony, is between a man and a woman," Bruno said, citing a 2006 Court or Appeals ruling.

Last year, the Democrat-led Assembly passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, but the Senate didn't take up the bill. A vote in the Senate is considered even less likely this year, a legislative election year in which the Republicans are hoping to cling to its majority by appealing in part to its more conservative base.

Massachusetts is the only U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but its residency requirements bar New Yorkers from marrying there. Canada is among the nations where gay marriage is legal.

In California, gay couples will be able to wed beginning June 17 - unless that state's Supreme Court decides to stay its own ruling.

A recent poll showed that more California voters now support allowing same-sex marriage than oppose it. The results, released Wednesday, marked the first time in over three decades of polling that more California voters have approved of extending marriage to gay couples than have disapproved, said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. The survey of 1,052 registered voters was conducted over the phone.

[blackyowe]

I did not say that afnetman but from that reaction I think maybe your mother let you suckle a little too long.

[kansas1946]

"The definition of marriage predates recorded history," said New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. "No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose.
**********************************************

What, is Mr. Barnes psychic?? How would he know if marriage pre-dates recorded history? If it wasn''t recorded, how would anyone know about it? It is just that kind of ridiculous logic that drives me crazy. It usually comes from hysteria.

[afnetman]

BlackYowe, I highly resent you saying that someone in my past has somehow sexually abused me and that made me gay. No one made me gay except if you believe we are all made by "god", then he must have made me gay. I tried for several years to lead a so called "normal straight life" and while trying to fit into a preceved normal lifestyle with a wife and two lovely boys. Through this period in my life all I did was make everyone else in my life misserable because I was living a false life that I did not fit into. When I was finally brave enough to admit to the fact that I was ''gay" and admitted to my wife, we deceided that the best thing for us and our boys was to seperate I released them and myself from this confinement of falsehood I was living in. Now she is living a very happy life, I have two well adjusted "straight" boys and I am in a very happy and long term (19 years) relationship. In fact we were married in the United Kingdom 2 1/2 years ago and you might like to know that the UK is still a very respected country, it did not fall into any more of a depraved nation than any other country on the earth. So maybe you should sort your own life out and live a happy life in yourself before trying to determine how everyone else should be living in your eyes.

[liselle3]

BlackYowe
Oh do tell the complete scientific facts about how homosexuality is a choice. I cannot wait to hear the facts from your perspective. How the heck would you know are you homosexual? Perhaps before you speak "the facts" you should have all of the facts. Also, if you are not gay, you should truly mind your own business. I am sure you must have plenty to worry about in your own little life.

[blackyowe]

Watching the folks in the UK I have to say it will be a bloody circus if it becomes legal. All the drag queens and exhibitionists can''t resist a bridal veil. So much for any dignity if this idiotic idea comes to pass.

[stupidrules3]

I can''t wait to see the backlog that will develop in divorce courts when you add all these marriages to the mix. It will also make for some good new reality tv.....Gay Divorce Court. The lawyers are already licking their chops over all the new cases they will have.

[blackyowe]

Well actually I am the daughter of a scientist, liselle3

[liselle3]

BlackYowe - how would you know? Are you a scientist?

[blackyowe]

Sometimes the truth hurts. Same gender relations are a perversion.

[blackyowe]

I have G*A*Y friends and none of them want to be married. I am not a homophobe. You need to get a grip. SaltySodomite