Lambda Legal Asks New York Court Today To Fast-Track Its Case Seeking Marriage Licenses for Gay and Lesbian Couples

“Today, we’re telling the court that this lawsuit focuses on clear questions of equality and fairness,” said Susan Sommer, Supervising Attorney at Lambda Legal, which served a motion for summary judgment in the case today. “Both sides in this case agree that a trial isn’t necessary. Couples in New York shouldn’t have to wait through a long legal process to get the protections they need - protections that only marriage can provide.”

Earlier this year, Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of five same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in New York, arguing that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the state Constitution’s guarantee of equality. The case was the first of its kind to be filed in New York since the Massachusetts high court ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to full marriage under that state’s Constitution.

“In New York, many same-sex couples are having their Canadian marriages respected by employers and insurance providers, but they shouldn’t have to cross international borders to get those protections. New Yorkers pay New York taxes and call New York their home, and they should be allowed to marry in their own neighborhoods and communities - just like their straight friends and neighbors,” said Sommer.

The plaintiffs in Lambda Legal’s New York marriage case include: Daniel Hernandez and Nevin Cohen, a couple of five years who worry about the lack of protections in times of sickness if one should become ill and they are not married; Lauren Abrams and Donna Freeman-Tweed, a couple of six years who seek to marry to help protect their young sons; Michael Elsasser and Douglas Robinson, a couple of 17 years who seek to solidify their own family protections while successfully raising two teenage sons; Mary Jo Kennedy and Jo-Ann Shain, a couple of 22 years who with their teenage daughter want full respect for their family; and Daniel Reyes and Curtis Woolbright, a couple of three years who would like to start a family someday but worry about doing so without the protections of marriage.

According to the U.S. Census in 2000, New York City has the largest percentage of same-sex households of any city in the country, with 8.9% of the country’s total number of households where gay couples live together; statewide, the 2000 Census counted 46,490 same-sex couples throughout New York. City and state laws provide minimal protections and rights to same-sex couples. In addition to its lawsuit seeking marriage in New York, Lambda Legal is also currently litigating marriage cases in New Jersey, California (with the ACLU, National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality California), and Washington (with Northwest Women’s Law Center).

Until Massachusetts began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on May 17, there was no place where same-sex couples could get married in the United States, as officials in San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; New Paltz, New York; and Sandoval County, New Mexico, were all ordered to stop issuing licenses to same-sex couples. Four providences in Canada are currently issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Sommer is Lambda Legal’s lead attorney on the case, Hernandez, et. al., v. Robles, et. al.. Jeffrey S. Trachtman and Norman C. Simon of the New York City law firm, Kramer Levin Naftalis and Frankel LLP, are co-counsel on the case.

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