Religious and
social conservatives vowed Thursday to fight Gov. David
Paterson'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.''
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 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 of 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 their majority by appealing in part
to their 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. (Michael Gormley, AP)
