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Ridiculous Lawsuit Against NY State Gay Marriage Allowed To Proceed
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Nov 30, 2011
Modified Nov 30, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Nov 30, 2011
Modified Nov 30, 2011
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Six months later, and some conservatives are still freaking out about gay marriage in New York—first, state clerks who opposed the move jumped ship, and now, an upstate judge has ruled that a lawsuit seeking to overturn the marriage equality law can proceed.
The gist of the lawsuit, filed by conservative group New Yorkers For Constitutional Freedoms (you may recall them rushing to the defense of another state clerk who refused to marry same-sex couples), is that Governor Cuomo and the Republican majority in the State Senate were sketchy in the days leading up to the passage of the law. Specifically, it alleges that some officials "held meetings in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Laws, financial support was promised to win Republican votes, the bill bypassed senate committees, and the governor unjustifiably issued a message of necessity to expedite the vote and avoid the normal three-day waiting period for a bill." It's a nice little legal work-around to talk around the fact that these people think gay marriage is wrong.
Acting Justice Robert B. Wiggins of State Supreme Court in Livingston County, in the Finger Lakes region, declared that there was enough evidence that the "open meeting laws" had been violated to proceed with the suit. “It is ironic that much of the state’s brief passionately spews sanctimonious verbiage on the separation of powers in the governmental branches,” Justice Wiggins wrote, “and clear arm-twisting by the Executive on the Legislative permeates this entire process.” Harsh words, but same-sex marriage advocates were unfazed: “Some extremist groups are making a desperate attempt to stop the rocket ship of equality with a few feathers in the wind,” Ross D. Levi, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, told the Times. “But we are confident they will not succeed.”
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marriage equality
new yorkers for constitutional freedoms
open meetings laws
Jamie Feldmar
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