News

By Gudrun Schultz

Andrew SpanoWHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Westchester County in New York State now recognizes gay marriages, after county executive Andrew Spano issued an order Wednesday, making the county the first in the state to do so. New York City and several other municipalities already extend recognition to homosexual marriages.

Homosexual couples will receive the same county privileges as heterosexual couples, including the right to purchase family passes to county parks and the right to emergency family housing, reported the AP yesterday.

“I don’t see why people, just because they’re the same sex, shouldn’t have the same benefits,” Spano said, who announced the order at a meeting of homosexual activist groups Wednesday night.

Under the county order, only couples married in a state or country where homosexual marriages are legal will be recognized. Villages and towns within the county will not be forced to recognize same-sex marriages, and the order will have no bearing on state or federal policies toward homosexual couples.

New York State’s marriage law was upheld at an appeals court last February, after homosexual activists attempted to have it struck down as unconstitutional. It is expected that the case will eventually come before the state’s highest court, theÂCourt of Appeals.

  See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

  New York Appeals Court Rules Against Gay “Marriage”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06021701.html

New York’s Ban on Same-Sex “Marriage” Struck Down by Activist State Judge
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020709.html