Gay Marriages Must be Recognized in New York

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The focus of this blog has never been on gay-rights issues, though they are important to me. It's just not the focus of the blog. But this is pretty big news.

It also should be by definition the law of the land all across the United States. The full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution guarantees that contracts entered into in one state are automatically valid in another. All of those state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage ought to be automatically unconstitutional under US law. And one day, they probably will be. But in New York, at least, it is a reality.

[Excerpt]

State Court Recognizes Gay Marriages From Elsewhere

A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere. Lawyers for both sides said the ruling applied to all public and private employers in the state

Even though gay couples may not legally marry in New York, the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding “marriage recognition rule,” and that an employer’s denial of health benefits had discriminated against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation. . .

Read more at: New York Times