N.Y. Appeals Court
Rejects Gay Marriage
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, December 8, 2005
NEW YORK -- A state appeals
court Thursday threw out a ruling that would have allowed gay couples to marry
in New York City, saying it is not the role of judges to redefine the terms
''husband'' and ''wife.''
The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled 4-1 that Justice Doris
Ling-Cohan erred in February when she held that the state's domestic relations
law is unconstitutional since it does not permit marriage between people of the
same sex.
The appeals court added: ''We find it even more troubling that the court,
upon determining the statute to be unconstitutional, proceeded to rewrite it and
purportedly create a new constitutional right.''
The Supreme Court is New York's main trial-level court. It has its own
appeals division.
Ling-Cohan had ruled in favor of five gay couples who sued New York City because
the city clerk had denied their marriage license applications. The gay
couples complained that their equal protection and due process rights under the
New York Constitution were violated.
Ling-Cohan barred the city clerk from denying marriage licenses to gay couples.
Her decision was the first of its kind in New York City. In her ruling,
she said the words ''husband,'' ''wife,'' ''groom'' and ''bride,'' as they
appear in the domestic relations law, should be defined to apply equally to men
and women.
But the appeals court said this ''was an act that exceeded the court's
constitutional mandate and usurped that of the Legislature.'' The court
said it is not up to judges to redefine terms that are given clear meaning in a
statute.
Also, the appeals court said state laws regarding marriage do not violate the
state constitution.
In a dissent, Justice David Saxe said that he saw no important public interest
in barring same-sex marriage and that laws that prohibit it perpetuate
discrimination.
But the rest of the court said: ''The legislative policy rationale is that
society and government have a strong interest in fostering heterosexual marriage
as the social institution that best forges a linkage between sex, procreation
and child rearing.''
Susan Sommer, a lawyer at Lambda Legal, the gay rights organization that
spearheaded the same-sex marriage drive, said, ''You bet we're going to
appeal.''
''We've always known that this issue would have to be decided in the state's
highest court, and we're eager to make our case there,'' Sommer said.
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