The New York State Bar Association Calls on Legislature to Provide Equal Rights Under the Law for All Couples
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Legislature Should Use the State Bar’s Report to Create Equality for All New Yorkers
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For more information contact:
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Andrew Rush
Director, Media Services Department
(518) 487-5530
arush@nysba.org
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In light of the New York State Court of Appeals decision today regarding same-sex marriage, the New York State Bar Association is calling on the New York State Legislature to take comprehensive action to eliminate the inequities faced by same-sex couples.
New York State Bar Association President Mark H. Alcott (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP) said, “The Court of Appeals decision is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of the next chapter. Our Association has always said that this matter requires a legislative solution. We have urged the Legislature to provide one of the following remedies to same-sex couples: civil unions; domestic partnerships; or marriage. While we are not advocating which of these approaches should be adopted, we call upon the Legislature to enact one of them, so that same-sex couples will no longer face the legal inequities they now encounter.”
The New York State Bar Association’s Special Committee to Study Issues Affecting Same Sex Couples prepared a report that provides a detailed discussion and analysis of the legal and constitutional issues surrounding same-sex relationships, an examination of the approaches that have been used to address those issues, and a series of conclusions about ways in which the New York State Legislature might address this subject.
The report was approved by the Association’s House of Delegates, its policy-making body, and is divided into four parts. The first part examines the state’s legal treatment of marital relationships and of same-sex relationships; the second part reviews the spectrum of options that have been suggested to describe same-sex relationships. The third part of the report analyzes the equal protection and due process constitutional questions implicated by limiting marriage to one man and one woman; and the fourth part contains the committee’s findings and recommendations.
The position of the New York State Bar Association is that the Legislature should enact comprehensive legislation to extend to same-sex couples the rights now extended to opposite-sex couples, with the three options being domestic partnerships, civil unions, and marriage.
Click here for a full copy of the report.
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