Defending Marriage Recognition in NY

Key victories in the long march toward full marriage-equality rights in New York State were defended again on October 13 when Lambda Legal presented oral arguments before the high court in New York on behalf of two married same-sex couples.

At stake were decisions made by state officials and lower courts to recognize the out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples. In June 2006, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano announced that marriages of same-sex couples would be recognized by county government agencies. And in May 2007, the New York Department of Civil Service (NYDCS) announced it would provide health coverage to same-sex spouses of public employees, provided they were married in a state or country in which such marriages were legal. With over one million enrollees, the NYDCS’s public health insurance program is the largest in the nation, second only to that of the federal government.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a national antigay legal group, acted swiftly and repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — to challenge these decisions. In separate cases, the ADF sued both NYDCS and Spano. In the case of Godfrey v. Spano, Lambda Legal asked for permission to intervene on behalf of Michael Sabatino and Robert Voorheis, a couple married in Canada. Lambda Legal also intervened in Lewis v. New York State Department of Civil Service on behalf of Peri Rainbow and Tamela Sloan, married public employees who are raising a special-needs child adopted in foster care. “We just want to be able to continue using the health insurance that provides important medical benefits for our family,” says Rainbow.

In both cases, Lambda Legal and the government defendants repeatedly defeated the ADF. In March 2007, a trial court in Westchester County dismissed the complaint against Spano, ruling that his order complied with state law. A year later, an Albany County court declared NYDCS’s health-coverage decision to be in compliance with state law.

The ADF appealed both decisions and lost. In December 2008, the New York Appellate Division ruled that the organization had no case against Spano. The next month, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division upheld Albany’s earlier ruling in NYDCS’s favor.

Undeterred, ADF petitioned the New York Court of Appeals, which accepted both Godfrey and Lewis for review in March 2009 and heard oral arguments on October 13. Susan Sommer, Lambda Legal’s Director of Constitutional Litigation, argued on behalf of our clients, emphasizing once again that marriage recognition is long-standing law in New York and that marriages of same-sex couples should not be treated differently than other marriages.

Though New York Governor David Paterson has been a vocal proponent of marriage equality, New York still does not allow same-sex couples to legally marry within its borders. To achieve this, New York’s Senate must follow the lead of the Assembly and approve a bill for Paterson to sign.

Until then, marriage advocates see recognition of out-of-state marriages as clearly required by law — and an important milestone. “We hope the court will reaffirm that our relationship can be honored in the community where we live and where we make our life together as a married couple,” says Sabatino.

The cases are Godfrey v. Spano and Lewis v. New York State Department of Civil Service, et al.