Friday, February 04, 2005

NY Court: Marriage Licenses for Gay Couples 

The Supreme Court of New York for New York County (note that in NY, the Supreme Court is the district level court, while the Court of Appeals is the state's highest court) today issued a decision that New York's Domestic Relations Law violates the constitution of New York by prohibiting gay couples from marrying. The court declared that "husband, "wife," "groom" and "bride" shall be read as "spouse" and be equally applicable to both men and women. The City Clerk of New York City (named Defendant in the case) is enjoined from refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples who otherwise meet the requirements. Enforcement of the order is stayed for 30 days.

The full 78-page decision, written by Judge Doris Ling-Cohan, can be found here, on Lambda Legal's website.

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Posted by Rogueslayer at 2:27 PM