Q&A: Key NY Lawmaker on the 10th Anniversary of Gay Marriage Passg

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE
• NEW YORK BE THE SIXTH STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• NEW YORK 6TH STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY RIGHTS

GAY MARRIAGE

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

NEW YORK BE THE SIXTH STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York TimJune 24, 2011ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, makg New York the largt state where gay and lbian upl will be able to wed and givg the natnal gay-rights movement new momentum om the state where was marriage bill, whose fate was uncerta until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 a packed but hhed Senate chamber. Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged last year to support same-sex marriage but whose early months office were domated by tense battl wh lawmakers and some labor unns over spendg Cuomo ma same-sex marriage one of his top prri for the year and ployed his top ai to ordate the efforts of a half-dozen lol gay-rights anizatns whose fdg and disanizatn had part been blamed for the feat two years new aln of same-sex marriage supporters brought one of Mr.

Díaz legalizatn of same-sex marriage the Uned Stat is a relatively recent goal of the gay-rights movement, but over the last few years, gay-rights anizers have placed at the center of their agenda, steerg money and mcle to dozens of state pals an often uphill effort to persua New York, passage of the bill reflects rapidly evolvg sentiment about same-sex unns. Many of them were approved the past few years, as same-sex marriage moved to the ont le of the culture war and policians ployed the issue as a tool for energizg their New York uld be a shift: It is now by far the largt state to grant legal regnn to same-sex weddgs, and one that is home to a large, visible and polilly fluential gay muny.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Thomas Duane, a rights advot are hopg the vote will galvanize the movement around the Uned Stat and help rega momentum after an almost intil bill was feated here 2009 and siar measur failed 2010 New Jersey and this year Maryland and Rho New York is a relative lateer allowg gay marriage, is nsired an important prize for advot, given the state's size and New York Cy's ternatnal stature and s role as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, which is nsired to have started wh the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village 1969. ""I have never be prour to be a lifelong New Yorker than I am today wh the passage of marriage equaly, " Cyndi Lper said a effects of the law uld be felt well beyond New York: Unlike Massachetts, which pneered gay marriage 2004, New York has no rincy requirement for obtag a marriage license, meang the state uld bee a mag for gay upl across the untry who want to have a weddg Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara York, the natn's third most populo state, will jo Connecticut, Iowa, Massachetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the Washgton pal district allowg same-sex upl to five months 2008, gay marriage was legal California, the biggt state populatn, and 18, 000 same-sex upl shed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court lg that allowed the practice.

Changg the law would require a nstutnal nventn, a long, drawn-out stickg pot over the past few days: Republin mands for stronger legal protectns for relig groups that fear they will be h wh discrimatn lawsus if they refe to allow their facili to be ed for gay climactic vote me after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiatns, mors, closed-door meetgs and tratn on the part of advot. Onle discsns took on a nasty turn wh sults and vulgari pepperg the screens of opponents and supporters alike and secury was beefed up the pol to give senators easier passage to and om their nference night before, Print Obama enuraged lawmakers to support gay rights durg a fundraiser wh New York Cy's gay muny.

Dpe New York Cy's liberal Democratic polics and large and vol gay muny, prev efforts to legalize same-sex marriage failed over the past several years, part bee the rt of the state is more nservative than the bill's succs this time reflected the powerful support of Cuomo and perhaps a change public attus. Opn polls for the first time are showg majory support for same-sex marriage, and Congrs recently repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred gays om servg openly the the week leadg up to the vote New York, some Republins who opposed the bill 2009 me forward to say they were supportg for reasons of nscience and a duty to ensure civil rights. ImageLorie Smh said her Christian fah requir her to turn away ctomers seekg servic to celebrate same-sex Woolf for The New York TimThe Supreme Court sid on Friday wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to sign weddg webs for same-sex upl spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people.

NEW YORK 6TH STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE

The liberal jtic viewed as somethg else entirely — a dispute that threatened societal protectns for gay rights and rolled back some recent an impassned dissent, Jtice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the oute signaled a return to a time when people of lor and other mory groups faced open discrimatn. Kavangh and Amy Coney Barrett, shifted the urt to the urts have generally sid wh gay and lbian upl who were refed service by bakeri, florists and others, lg that potential ctomers are entled to equal treatment, at least parts of the untry wh laws forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual owners of bs challengg those laws have argued that the ernment should not force them to choose between the requirements of their fahs and their livelihoods.

Addnally, several stat terpret existg laws agast sex discrimatn to apply to bias relatg to sexual orientatn and genr inty, even though they do not have laws explicly forbiddg such stat that do not offer protectns to gay and transgenr people on those grounds, municipal laws ver many Human Rights Campaign, an L. ETFriday’s lg was another reassurg cisn for relig celebratory moment outsi the Supreme Court on Friday, after the urt livered the latt a strg of judgments favor of relig Zuhaib/Associated PrsConservativ who have moral and theologil objectns to gay marriage saw the Supreme Court’s cisn on Friday as reassurance that they would be able to assert their beliefs a public square that they see as creasgly hostile to a 6-to-3 vote, spl along iologil l, the jtic agreed wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to provi servic for same-sex marriag, spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people.

GAY RIGHTS

Several siar s have centered on nservative Christian small bs owners who object to workg on gay weddgs specifilly, cludg a baker Colorado, two vatn signers Arizona and a Kentucky-based a news nference shortly after the lg was issued, Krist Waggoner, general unsel for Alliance Defendg Freedom, which reprented Ms.