The Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York, decided Tuesday to let stand a ruling that required the state to recognize same-sex “marriages” performed outside the state.
The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court in February ordered the 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.
Stephen Hayford, spokesman for the Coalition to Save Marriage in New York, said the court’s decision poses huge problems.
“Canada has decided to pass a same-sex 'marriage' law; New York state has not,” he said. “It’s not appropriate for Canada or anyone else to export same-sex 'marriage' into New York and force New York employers to recognize something that our state Legislature and our elected officials have not chosen to legalize.”
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the court, which ruled in favor of traditional marriage two years ago, is contradicting itself.
“Inexplicably, the high court is letting stand a ruling that says that New York essentially has no public policy regarding same-sex 'marriages' performed elsewhere,” he said. “It's ridiculous legal reasoning to insist that a state could recognize a type of ‘marriage’ from outside that it will not permit within the state. Yet that's exactly what the Court of Appeals has now done.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Twenty-seven states have amended their constitutions to protect traditional marriage.
