NY COURT RULES VT CIVIL UNION EQUAL TO MARRIAGE IN WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT

NEW YORK, April 15, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A homosexual man in New York is a legal spouse and able to sue St. Vincent’s Hospital for medical negligence leading to his homosexual partner’s death, a New York court has ruled. Lambda Legal, a homosexual activist law firm, which represents the man, said the ruling is the first in the nation to recognize homosexual couples who have a Vermont civil union as spouses outside of Vermont.  In the decision, issued late Monday and being published Friday, Nassau County Supreme Court Justice John P. Dunne noted that “common-law” spouses from other states are regularly recognized as spouses in New York and said, “(I)t is impossible to justify, under equal protection principles, withholding the same recognition from a union which meets all the requirements of a marriage in New York but for the sexual orientation of its partners.” New York law, he noted, does not define “spouses” as people of different sexes. However, Justice Dunne’s ruling does not determine whether same-sex couples should be treated as spouses “for all purposes.”  See the release from the homosexual activist law firm:  https://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/documents/record?record=1250