The Alliance Defense Fund, the insidious coalition of anti-gay Christianist organizations I described in a previous post, has raised its ugly head again, this time in New York State where it has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Governor David Patterson’s order directing state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside New York State. In league with ADF are five conservatve GOP state legislators (I know, what a surprise), Senator Serphin R. Maltese of Queens, Senator Martin J. Golden of Brooklyn; Assemblymen Daniel J. Burling of Warsaw and Brian M. Kolb of Geneva; and James N. Tedisco of Schenectady. It is amazing what lengths these folks will go to in order further their agenda of marginalizing and denigrating gay Americans, all in the name of their supposedly loving God. One can only speculate on the number of homeless and straving children around the world that could be cared for with the huge amounts of money they spend seeking to limit the secular civil rights of others. Here are some highlights from the New York Times coverage:
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ALBANY — Five state lawmakers, backed by a conservative Christian policy group, sued Gov. David A. Paterson on Tuesday, seeking to block the governor’s order directing state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside New York. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, came as the Senate Republican conference all but ruled out taking any action to try to challenge the governor.
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The Christian group, the Alliance Defense Fund, based in Arizona, which represents the lawmakers, has fought efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in several states. In Tuesday’s suit, it argued that Mr. Paterson usurped the Legislature’s authority as the sole branch of government empowered to decide what the state’s definition of marriage is.
The Christian group, the Alliance Defense Fund, based in Arizona, which represents the lawmakers, has fought efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in several states. In Tuesday’s suit, it argued that Mr. Paterson usurped the Legislature’s authority as the sole branch of government empowered to decide what the state’s definition of marriage is.
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The suit seeks an injunction against an order that Mr. Paterson’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, issued last month directing all state agencies to review their policies to ensure that they conform to a decision by a state appellate court in Rochester in February. That decision held that the state must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, even though New York does not itself allow gays and lesbians to marry.
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“This is a lawsuit that’s not going anywhere,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represents Ms. Martinez. “The governor is doing what a governor should do, which is direct his agencies to comply with the law. He’s not circumventing anything. He’s not doing anything that violates the law,” Ms. Lieberman said. Lawyers for Ms. Martinez said on Tuesday that the Alliance Defense Fund had failed so far in previous attempts to challenge New York State and local agencies that have recognized same-sex marriages.
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