Same-sex Marriage in New York - Timeline

Timeline

• February 26, 2004: Jason West, mayor of the village of New Paltz, announces that the village would start performing same-sex civil weddings. Although the village would not attempt to issue licenses for such weddings, couples in New York State have six months from the wedding to seek such a license, and weddings are not invalid solely for not having a license.

• February 27, 2004: John Shields, the mayor of Nyack, New York, announces that his Village would recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

• March 2, 2004: West is charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of "solemnizing marriages without a license" by Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams. West announces that he intends to continue performing same-sex ceremonies.

• March 3, 2004: Shields announces that he will begin officiating at same-sex marriages, and that he and his fiancé would join other gay and lesbian New Yorkers in seeking marriage licenses from municipal clerks' offices.

• March 3, 2004: The Office of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer issues an "informal opinion" that clerks should not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples as the state legislature had not intended same-sex marriages to be covered by the domestic relations law. The same opinion states that same-sex marriages performed elsewhere were recognizable in New York state under a recent judicial decision recognizing the validity of a Vermont civil union as granting the benefits of marriage, Langan v. St. Vincent's Hospital, 196 Misc. 2d 440 (N.Y. Misc., 2003)(later overturned).

• March 5, 2004: New York state judge Vincent Bradley issues a temporary restraining order barring West from performing any such ceremonies for a month. West indicates that he will abide by the judicial order while evaluating his legal options.

• March 15, 2004: Two Unitarian Universalist ministers who had been performing same-sex weddings in Mayor West's stead are charged with 13 counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license by District Attorney Williams.

• March 20, 2004: Six Unitarian Universalist ministers — including one of the two ministers charged earlier — defy the District Attorney by performing 25 more same-sex marriage ceremonies in New Paltz.

• March 22, 2004: Following an opinion requested in January from their attorney, the Rochester city council announces that Rochester will recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Rochester is across Lake Ontario from Toronto, where same-sex marriages have been legal since 2003.

• June 6, 2004: An Ulster County Supreme Court judge makes the temporary restraining order against Mayor West permanent.

• June 10, 2004: A New Paltz Town Court Justice dismisses the charges against Mayor West, ruling that the district attorney had failed to show that the state had a legitimate interest in preventing the marriages, or that the law under which West was charged was constitutional. The district attorney said that he would appeal the ruling, and also indicated that he intended to continue forward with charges against the Unitarian Universalist ministers.

• July 13, 2004: Another New Paltz Town Court Justice dismisses all of the charges against the Unitarian Universalist ministers, for essentially the same reasons.

• Mayor Carolyn K. Peterson of Ithaca, New York, in conjunction with her city clerk, has planned to provoke a court hearing by sending marriage applications from five local gay couples to the New York State Department of Health, while offering the backing of Ithaca's legal resources if their applications are denied.

• October 8, 2004: The state comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi, indicated in a letter to a state employee that the state retirement system will recognize same-sex marriages contracted elsewhere for the purposes of retirement benefits for New York state employees.

• February 4, 2005: State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan rules that New York City could not deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, based on the equal protection clause of the state's constitution. The order was stayed for 30 days, pending an appeal. (The Supreme Court is a trial-level court in New York, and the decision could be appealed either to the Appellate Division or directly to the Court of Appeals.)

• December 8, 2005: The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court overturns Ling-Cohan's decision.

• May 31, 2006: The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, hears oral arguments.

• July 6, 2006: The Court of Appeals in its Hernández v. Robles decision declines to judicially mandate the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York. The Court's ruling stated that same-sex partners did not have the right to marry under the New York Constitution.

• May 2007 : A Massachusetts trial court judge rules that marriage licenses obtained by New York same-sex couples prior to the Hernandez v. Robles decision are valid under Massachusetts law. As a result, these couples' marriages are also valid under New York State law.

• June 19, 2007: The Democrat-controlled New York State Assembly approves Governor Spitzer's bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, in an 85–61 vote. The bill moves to the Republican-controlled Senate; majority leader Joseph L. Bruno said it would not be voted upon in that chamber this year.

• December 27, 2007: In Matter of Langan v State Farm Fire & Cas., the Appellate Division, Third Department holds that parties to civil unions from other states are not entitled to make claims as surviving spouses under New York's Workers' Compensation Law; the court also holds that the relevant provisions of the Workers' Compensation Law are not unconstitutional.

• January 9, 2008: Governor Spitzer's bill to legalize same-sex marriage dies in the New York State Senate and is returned to the New York State Assembly.

• February 1, 2008: In Martinez v. County of Monroe, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department rules that a same-sex marriage in Canada should be recognized in New York, because out-of-state opposite-sex marriages that would not have been legal in New York nonetheless are recognized unless such recognition would violate the public policy of the state. The Appellate Division holds that the same treatment must be applied to out-of-state same-sex marriages, but the ruling could be overturned on a finding that same-sex marriage violates New York's public policy. The decision reverses a trial judge's 2006 ruling that Monroe Community College did not have to extend health benefits to an employee's same-sex spouse.

• February 22, 2008: Monroe County announces its intention to move for leave to appeal the Martinez decision to the Court of Appeals.

• March 12, 2008: Eliot Spitzer resigns his position as Governor of New York.

• March 17, 2008: Following Spitzer's resignation, David Alexander Paterson (then Lieutenant Governor of New York) is sworn in as the 55th Governor of New York at the New York State Capitol by New York Chief Judge Judith Kaye.

• April 2008: Governor David Alexander Paterson pledges in a speech that he will continue to push for full marriage equality for LGBT New Yorkers.

• May 29, 2008: It is widely reported on this day that Gov. David A. Paterson directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. "In a directive issued on May 14, the governor's legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere 'should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.'" Opponents of same-sex marriage raise the possibility of a legal challenge.

• June 3, 2008: Governor Paterson's directive is challenged as both premature and unconstitutional in an Article 78 proceeding filed by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of several state legislators and conservative leaders in New York.

• September 2, 2008: The Alliance Defense Fund suit is dismissed in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, with a finding that Governor Patterson acted within his powers when he required state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages from outside NY State.

• September 8, 2008: The Alliance Defense Fund appeals Judge Billings' decision.

• November 4, 2008: On Election Day, the Democratic Party gains a majority in the New York State Senate.

• November 22, 2008: Monroe County announces that it will not pursue any further appeals of the Appellate Division's decision.

• December 2008: A deal is made among certain Democratic Senators that would ensure the election of Malcolm Smith as Senate president pro tempore, making him the chamber's leader; reports indicate that as part of the deal, Senator Smith agreed not to bring same-sex marriage legislation to a floor vote in the Senate during the 2009–2010 legislative session.

• December 10, 2008: Malcolm Smith breaks off his alleged agreement with three Democratic dissidents and confirms that he will not pledge to hold off on a same-sex marriage bill in the upcoming session. Senator Smith states that "real reform cannot and should not ever include limiting the civil rights of any New Yorkers." This places control of the Senate by the Democratic Party in doubt, despite its slight numerical majority.

• January 7, 2009: After reaching an agreement with three Democratic dissidents, Malcolm Smith is voted Senate Majority Leader.

• April 14, 2009: The New York Times reports that Governor Paterson will announce on April 16 that he plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.

• April 16, 2009: Governor Paterson officially introduces such legislation and vows to push for its passage.

• May 12, 2009: NYS Assembly passes same-sex marriage legislation in a bipartisan vote of 89–52.

• June 8, 2009: Governor Paterson taps former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno to speak up for same-sex marriage.

• November 10, 2009: The New York State Senate begins a special session regarding the economy of the state, and take a vote on same-sex marriage. Later that day, the vote was postponed until the end of the year. Thirty-two Democrats formed the majority in the Senate, but several Democrats refrained from commenting or opposed the bill, meaning several Republicans would be required for the 32-member support the bill would need if it was to pass into law.

• December 2, 2009: The New York State Assembly again passes the same-sex marriage bill by a vote of 88–51, but the state Senate votes down the same-sex marriage bill, 38-24.

• May 10, 2011: Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell introduces the same-sex marriage bill in the Assembly.

• June 15, 2011: The New York State Assembly passes the same-sex marriage bill for the fourth time, by a vote of 80–63.

• June 24, 2011: The New York Senate passes the same-sex marriage bill in a 33 to 29 vote. Governor Andrew Cuomo signs the bill, which will take effect in 30 days.

• July 24, 2011: The Marriage Equality Act goes into effect. Kitty Lambert & Cheryle Rudd of Buffalo are wed in Niagara Falls at midnight, becoming the first couple in the state to benefit from the newly-enacted law. Also, Niagara Falls is lit in rainbow for the first time for the occasion.