Update on Marriage Recognition in New York

by Empire State Pride Agenda

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:46:59 GMT

"A lot of questions have arisen in the past two weeks since the news broke about Governor Paterson writing to state agencies about respecting the legal out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples. Like many others in New York , you might have questions about what this action means for you.

The two biggest questions that we’ve been hearing since Gov. Paterson released his advisory memo are:

1. Is it time to be thinking about going to California or Canada to get married?
2. Does this mean my employer has to recognize my out-of-state marriage now?

There aren’t blanket answers to these questions that will work for everyone. However, in order to help make understanding these issues easier, the Pride Agenda has created a resource page on our website.

Use this resource for information about marriage for same-sex couples in New York , including:
3. Why lawsuits aren’t the best way to win marriage equality
4. A summary of recent developments for recognizing out-of-state marriages in New York.

5. How Gov. Paterson’s actions might apply to the 1324 state rights and responsibilities that come with a marriage license?

6. What you can do moving forward to help win full marriage equality in New York State .

We hope this resource will add some clarification on these exciting new developments. Stay tuned for more updates from us as we continue to learn more about this—and as we keep working to make sure that a marriage equality bill is passed in Albany."