September 12, 2007

Court Rules NYS Gay Married Benefits Legal

An Albany court has dismissed a challenge to a decision by New York State’s Comptroller that treats out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples the same as any other legal marriage in terms of benefits afforded to state employees through the New York State Retirement System.

In 2004 in response to an inquiry by a gay state employee wanting to know if his retirement benefits would cover his family if he went to Canada to legally marry his partner, New York State Comptroller at the time, Alan Hevesi, stated that, “Based on current law, the retirement system will recognize a same-sex Canadian marriage in the same manner as an opposite-sex New York marriage under the principle of comity. That principle has been legal practice pursuant to New York Court of Appeals rulings for many years.”

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Hevesi’s interpretation of the law matched that of then Attorney General, now Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who also said that, under the state’s current laws, same-sex couples who legally married in other jurisdictions should be treated as any other married couple in New York State.

The Alliance Defend Fund, an Arizona- based organization that regularly fights LGBT issues, filed the suit, citing the July 2006 ruling by the Court of Appeals - the state’s highest court - that upheld New York’s ban on same-sex marriage.

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The issue that Hevesi addressed for the purpose of retirement benefits involved only same-sex marriages from Canada. Following today’s ruling by Judge McNamara, Hevesi’s successor, Thomas P. DiNapoli announced that the retirement system would be recognizing all legal out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples and not just those from Canada. This will include same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa and Belgium.

The ADF has not said if it will appeal today’s ruling.

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Posted by: Sapphocrat