N.Y. Governor Says Gay Marriage Protects Families

by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Boston Contributor
Tuesday May 8, 2007

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who introduced legislation last month to extend full marriage equality to the state’s residents, has issued a memo to state lawmakers articulating the need to protect and acknowledge all families. Spitzer is the first governor in U.S. history to propose such a bill.

"Same-sex couples who wish to marry are not simply looking to obtain additional rights, they are seeking out substantial responsibilities as well: to undertake significant and binding obligations to one another, and to lives of ’shared intimacy and mutual financial and emotional support...

The New York Sun reported May 8 that Spitzer’s two-page memo, called a "statement in support," took on a central argument used by marriage equality opponents, who claim that allowing same-sex couples to marry would "erode" marriage as a civil and religious institution and endanger civilization as we know it.

"Same-sex couples who wish to marry are not simply looking to obtain additional rights, they are seeking out substantial responsibilities as well: to undertake significant and binding obligations to one another, and to lives of ’shared intimacy and mutual financial and emotional support," the memo reads, in part.