By Gudrun Schultz
ALBANY, New York, February 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New York’s marriage law is constitutional, a five-judge panel decided at a mid-level appeals court yesterday.
The ruling addressed three separate cases involving gay couples that were refused marriage licenses. The couples argue the state’s definition of marriage as being only between a man and a woman violates the state Constitution’s equality, privacy and legal access provisions.
The court ruled that under the constitution, marriage between homosexuals was not legal. Changing the legality of same-sex marriage would require re-writing the constitution, which the panel of judges said was not the role of the courts.
“In our opinion, the Legislature is where the changes to marriage [should take place]” wrote justice John Lahtinen in the decision, according to the Associated Press.
Trial-level courts had also ruled against the gay couples, and in December, the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in New Yolk City ruled against a lower court decision that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry in New York City.
It is expected the cases will eventually come before the state’s highest Court of Appeals, which will make the final decision on the legal status of gay “marriage” in the State of New York.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
New York’s Ban on Same-Sex “Marriage” Struck Down by Activist State Judge
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020709.html