New York's
highest court expected to rule on marriage equality this
week

New York's court of appeals, the highest in the state, is expected to rule this week on whether same-sex couples can marry. Decisions in several other cases were handed down Wednesday, but the marriage ruling could come on Thursday, lawyers say. The court heard arguments in May in four different lawsuits brought by 44 gay and lesbian couples, which were combined into a single one for the purpose of this ruling. In three of the cases, lower court judges upheld the current ban on same-sex marriage, but in the fourth, New York City judge Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that the New York State constitution guarantees basic freedoms to lesbian and gay people, and that those rights are violated when same-sex couples are not allowed to marry. That ruling was overturned in a mid-level appeals court. The justices will be determining how broadly the state constitution should be interpreted. An April poll showed a majority of people across New York State in support same-sex marriage. (Sirius OutQ News)