Officials in Monroe County, N.Y., plan to appeal a court ruling that requires New York to recognize same-sex “marriages” performed outside the state. Gay activists have gathered in upstate New York to protest.
On Feb. 1, the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court ordered the Monroe County Community College in Rochester to extend health benefits to an employee’s lesbian partner after they were legally married in Canada. That followed a judge's ruling in 2006 that the school did not have to provide benefits.
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the Feb. 1 ruling was based on the faulty premise that New York has no public policy defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
“If a couple hundred years of custom, practice and legal support for traditional marriage doesn't amount to a very definite public policy, then nothing does,” he said.
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, a Republican, said the ruling was a misinterpretation of the law.
“In this particular case, we're letting people in Ontario, Canada, define marriage for people who live in New York state. I don't think that's appropriate,” she said.
The New York Court of Appeals will decide if the appeal will be heard.
