http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pb...90320/1006/NEWS
QUOTE
Friday, June 9, 2006
County to recognize legal same-sex unions
Westchester move seen as symbolic
By Keith Eddings
The Journal News
WHITE PLAINS — Westchester County will recognize same-sex marriages performed in states and countries where they are legal, making it the eighth municipality in New York — and the first county — to recognize the same-sex unions, County Executive Andrew Spano said Wednesday.
Spano's executive order will guarantee married gay couples the handful of rights and privileges from county government that heterosexual couples enjoy, including the right to buy family passes to county parks. But the order will be a mostly symbolic act that will not require local towns, villages and cities to recognize the marriages, and it won't provide gay married couples living in the county with new state or federal rights or privileges, such as the right to file joint tax returns or to inherit a partner's Social Security benefits.
Nevertheless, Spano received a standing ovation when he read the executive order at a meeting of local gay groups Wednesday night, and leading gay groups cheered the announcement.
"With this move, over half of New York state now lives in jurisdictions that respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples," said Ross Levi, a spokesman for Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay lobbying group based in Albany. "We hope that both the general public and elected officials begin to recognize that the state does not change for the worse by recognizing loving and committed same-sex couples who wish to be married."
News of Spano's executive order was greeted warmly by an Ulster County legislator who is trying to convince lawmakers there to do the same thing.
"I'm not surprised to see that Westchester has taken this positive step," said Brian Shapiro, D-Woodstock. "This is an issue that is gaining support not only in our area, but in many places in the country.
"It's not something outside the norm," Shapiro said. "It's a mainstream issue. Many private companies are accepting same-sex couples because it's the proper thing to do. To otherwise is discriminatory."
Shapiro has asked the Ulster Legislature's personnel committee to consider extending benefits to domestic partners of unmarried county employees, and Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, D-Clinton, made the same request to the county Legislature here.
Opposition from Christians
The extension of marriage benefits to same-sex couples is deeply offensive to many Christians, like Tom Malone Jr., a devout Catholic. He found no "wisdom or morality" in Westchester's decision, and he was disappointed in the U.S. Senate's rejection of a bill that would have banned same-sex marriage. He has lobbied his representatives for a similar state law.
"Marriage and the family are under attack and we ought to do everything we can to support the Christian definition of marriage," the Poughkeepsie man said. "I don't find any form of gay union valid."
Spano issued the order on a day when the U.S. Senate, in a procedural vote, killed a proposal to amend the federal Constitution to ban same-sex marriage for a second time, and only a week after the issue reached New York's highest court.
On May 31, the state Court of Appeals heard arguments by lawyers for about 40 gay couples, including two from Westchester, that state laws limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violate the due process, privacy and equal protection provisions of the state constitution. A ruling is expected this year.
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic candidate for governor, defended the state in the suit, although he has said he wants the law changed to allow gays to wed.
In the meantime, Spitzer has said New York should recognize gay marriages that are legally performed in other states and countries, a question that also is being fought in the courts.
Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay couples to marry.
A handful of countries also permit gay marriage, including Canada, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Spano's executive order puts Westchester on the short list of New York municipalities that recognize those marriages — which includes Nyack, Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and New York City — and extends Spano's record on gay rights.
Spano also has made the partners of gay county employees eligible for employee benefits such as health care, and he worked with the Board of Legislators to establish a domestic partner registry for gay couples and to extend county human rights protections to gays.
Last night, standing beside a projection of a map of Westchester within a circle of the rainbow colors that are a symbol of the gay rights movement, Spano mocked the failed effort earlier in the day by Senate Republicans to ban gay marriage nationwide.
"I'm as perplexed as you about Washington," Spano told the gathering at the County Center. "Why they'd want to do a constitutional amendment on gay marriage — I don't even understand it, so it's hard to say something about it except that it's ridiculous."
Spano's executive order does not need approval from the Westchester County Board of Legislators.
County to recognize legal same-sex unions
Westchester move seen as symbolic
By Keith Eddings
The Journal News
WHITE PLAINS — Westchester County will recognize same-sex marriages performed in states and countries where they are legal, making it the eighth municipality in New York — and the first county — to recognize the same-sex unions, County Executive Andrew Spano said Wednesday.
Spano's executive order will guarantee married gay couples the handful of rights and privileges from county government that heterosexual couples enjoy, including the right to buy family passes to county parks. But the order will be a mostly symbolic act that will not require local towns, villages and cities to recognize the marriages, and it won't provide gay married couples living in the county with new state or federal rights or privileges, such as the right to file joint tax returns or to inherit a partner's Social Security benefits.
Nevertheless, Spano received a standing ovation when he read the executive order at a meeting of local gay groups Wednesday night, and leading gay groups cheered the announcement.
"With this move, over half of New York state now lives in jurisdictions that respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples," said Ross Levi, a spokesman for Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay lobbying group based in Albany. "We hope that both the general public and elected officials begin to recognize that the state does not change for the worse by recognizing loving and committed same-sex couples who wish to be married."
News of Spano's executive order was greeted warmly by an Ulster County legislator who is trying to convince lawmakers there to do the same thing.
"I'm not surprised to see that Westchester has taken this positive step," said Brian Shapiro, D-Woodstock. "This is an issue that is gaining support not only in our area, but in many places in the country.
"It's not something outside the norm," Shapiro said. "It's a mainstream issue. Many private companies are accepting same-sex couples because it's the proper thing to do. To otherwise is discriminatory."
Shapiro has asked the Ulster Legislature's personnel committee to consider extending benefits to domestic partners of unmarried county employees, and Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, D-Clinton, made the same request to the county Legislature here.
Opposition from Christians
The extension of marriage benefits to same-sex couples is deeply offensive to many Christians, like Tom Malone Jr., a devout Catholic. He found no "wisdom or morality" in Westchester's decision, and he was disappointed in the U.S. Senate's rejection of a bill that would have banned same-sex marriage. He has lobbied his representatives for a similar state law.
"Marriage and the family are under attack and we ought to do everything we can to support the Christian definition of marriage," the Poughkeepsie man said. "I don't find any form of gay union valid."
Spano issued the order on a day when the U.S. Senate, in a procedural vote, killed a proposal to amend the federal Constitution to ban same-sex marriage for a second time, and only a week after the issue reached New York's highest court.
On May 31, the state Court of Appeals heard arguments by lawyers for about 40 gay couples, including two from Westchester, that state laws limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violate the due process, privacy and equal protection provisions of the state constitution. A ruling is expected this year.
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic candidate for governor, defended the state in the suit, although he has said he wants the law changed to allow gays to wed.
In the meantime, Spitzer has said New York should recognize gay marriages that are legally performed in other states and countries, a question that also is being fought in the courts.
Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay couples to marry.
A handful of countries also permit gay marriage, including Canada, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Spano's executive order puts Westchester on the short list of New York municipalities that recognize those marriages — which includes Nyack, Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and New York City — and extends Spano's record on gay rights.
Spano also has made the partners of gay county employees eligible for employee benefits such as health care, and he worked with the Board of Legislators to establish a domestic partner registry for gay couples and to extend county human rights protections to gays.
Last night, standing beside a projection of a map of Westchester within a circle of the rainbow colors that are a symbol of the gay rights movement, Spano mocked the failed effort earlier in the day by Senate Republicans to ban gay marriage nationwide.
"I'm as perplexed as you about Washington," Spano told the gathering at the County Center. "Why they'd want to do a constitutional amendment on gay marriage — I don't even understand it, so it's hard to say something about it except that it's ridiculous."
Spano's executive order does not need approval from the Westchester County Board of Legislators.