OntheWilderSide

We have not had same-sex weddings because of the cowardice of Spitzer, Paterson and Cuomo.

The New York State constitution was changed to be gender neutral in 2002.  At that point, marriage was no longer dependent on the gender of the participants. No State law, including domestic relations law required the parties to be married to be of a particular gender.  Only health department regulations which determined the printed of the marriage license application required a bride and a groom.  The health department is part of the executive branch, so it is under the direct purview of the Governor.  All it takes is an executive order from the Governor to change the regulations.

In 2004,  New Paltz Mayor Jason West and Deputy Mayor Rebecca Rotzler (both Green Party)  began performing what they believed were legal same-sex marriages.  In the tussle over whether to criminally prosecute West, then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer issued a spineless opinion that said the marriage had traditionally been described under heterosexual in NY despite no statutory language to that effect, so Spitzer found that it would take a legislative act to perform same-sex marriages.  When they issue reached the highest court in NY, it cribbed from AG Spitzer’s spineless opinion and found something that did not exist in NY statutes, that marriage is defined as heterosexual.

Democratic Governors Spitzer, Paterson, and Cuomo choose not to issue an executive order correcting the health department regulations to match the gender-neutral domestic relation statutes, so we had to wait on 3 rounds of legislative voting to correct something that was easily within the governor’s power.

Related articles

• Same sex marriage passes in NY! (www.onthewilderside.com)
• Recalling SSM in NY: West, NYT & Maddow (www.onthewilderside.com)

Filed under: 3rd party, activism, governor, grassroots democracy, new york, New York State Politics, News, Same-Sex Marriage, social & economic justice Tagged: | andrew cuomo, David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer, green, jason west, marriage, new york, New York State, Rebecca Rotzler, Same-Sex Marriage