Say hello to dear old Dad.
Posted on 03/04/2004 10:44:43 AM PST by areafiftyone
Dozens of same-sex couples lined up outside the city clerk’s office for marriage licenses Thursday morning but were turned away with a letter explaining that gay marriages are illegal.
“New York state law,” the clerk’s letter said, “does not authorize this office to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.”
The line of gay and lesbian couples snaked around the vaulted exterior of the city’s Municipal Building, where marriage licenses are issued.
Mara Gottlieb, 33, and Camille Gonzalez, 38, of Manhattan were first in line, arriving almost two hours before the clerk’s office opened at 8:30 a.m. They were accompanied by Gottlieb’s mother and their rabbi.
“We’re disappointed, but we think it’s important for people to come here,” said Gottlieb, who wore a tiera-like white band in her hair. “We want the politicians to know that this isn’t going away.”
At a rally across the street from the clerk’s office, about 300 gay and lesbian demonstrators braved a light rain to support same-sex marriage. They held signs and chanted: “It’s about equality!” and “When love is present, marriage should be a right!”
In suburban Rockland County, Nyack Mayor John Shields met Thursday with same-sex couples and then accompanied them to the Orangetown clerk’s office to apply for marriage licenses.
“We’re a family, and as parents we have an obligation to see that our children’s rights are protected,” said Toni Bonde, who has 5 1/2-year-old twin sons with her partner, Claire Bond.
Mayors and county officials in California, New Mexico and Oregon have also allowed gay marriages since the wedding march began Feb. 12 in San Francisco.
“This is the next civil rights movement,” declared Claire Bond.
On Wednesday, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer issued a legal opinion saying current state law prohibits same-sex weddings. New York City Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo, the city’s top lawyer, reached the same conclusion, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed to enforce the law.
The attorney general said he would leave it to the courts to decide if the law is constitutional.
Both sides of the polarizing issue had been awaiting Spitzer’s opinion since last Friday, when the mayor of New Paltz, a college town 75 miles north of Manhattan, married 25 same-sex couples. Village Mayor Jason West now faces 19 criminal counts and could face jail time.
West pleaded innocent Wednesday in town court. Outside, about 200 supporters gave him a hero’s welcome, cheering and singing as a jazz trio played “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
West said he will conduct another 10 to 20 marriages this weekend, but Village Trustee Robert Hebel said he intended to seek a temporary restraining order Thursday.
In New York City, the city clerk’s 50-page rejection letter included the state and city’s legal opinions and offered information about domestic partnership options.
The same-sex couples seeking licenses there Thursday said workers in the City Clerk’s office were polite, but firm.
“I feel sad,” said Tey Meadows, 27, who sought a license with Ella Brians, 26. “Later, I might feel angry, but right now, I feel sad.”
The women said they might go to Massachusetts to get a license instead — and as a protest, hold their reception and ceremony in Massachusetts as well.
“I’d rather not do it that way because I’m from New York,” said Meadows. “I want to get married in New York and I want to raise my family in New York too.”
Originally published on March 4, 2004
Say hello to dear old Dad.
Legal marriage has never been a 'right' but a priviledge. If it were a 'right' there never would have been restrictions and requirements to be met.
It's a shooting war and we have the guns.
BUMP
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