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Budget, Education & City Services
Right to Marry Bill
WHEREAS, The issue of same sex marriage has new immediacy based on the New York State Court of Appeals' refusal to authorize same sex marriages on July 6, 2006 stating that the issue should be decided by the state legislature; and
WHEREAS, On October 5, 2006, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer declared that he would push to legalize same sex marriage and "make it law in New York"; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five has a history of supporting marriage equality for same sex couples as per resolutions passed on July 11, 2002 and March 10, 2005; and
WHEREAS, New York State Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and State Senator Tom Duane have re-introduced bills A7463 in the Assembly and S5156 State Senate respectively that in summary:
- Validates marriage between same sex parties
- Provides that a marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same or different sex
- Makes appropriate gender neutral corrections to the section of the domestic relations law granting authority to the town or city clerk to accept an application for a marriage license
- Makes gender neutral corrections throughout the domestic relations law;
WHEREAS, These bills have been Co-Sponsored by Assembly Member Jonathan Bing, Assembly Member Deborah J. Glick and State Senator Krueger, as well as Multi-Sponsored by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, all of whom represent Community Board Five; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five very strongly urges the New York State Assembly, State Senate and Governor-elect to move forward with the passage of this same sex marriage legislation.
The resolution passed with a vote of 38 in favor, o opposed, 0 abstention.