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Gay Couples: What's Going On

By Janice G. Inman
December 01, 2003

Although at the moment the state of New York is generating very little news on gay family issues, cases in other jurisdictions may eventually have some impact on the state, perhaps as argument when similar issues arise here, or at least with respect to how families formed in other states are treated when they relocate to New York.

Massachusetts

The biggest national news on the gay couples' front this last month was, of course, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's ruling that gay couples have the right under the state's constitution to marry. The court's 4-3 decision gave the state's legislature 180 days in which to clear the way for such marriages to take place. The decision's imposition of a 180-day delay in implementing its mandates has led to much speculation among legislators and others as to its meaning. The court's opinion appeared to some to leave open the possibility that the legislature could affect the terms of such unions, perhaps authorizing less than full-fledged marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Shortly after the decision came down, Massachusetts' Governor Mitt Romney signaled that he would attempt to push for a civil union-like statute similar to Vermont's, allowing same-sex unions that would confer many of the rights of marriage, but that would not be called “marriages.”

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