Gay marriage upheld 5 - 0 by New York Supreme Court

The Marriage Equality Act was reaffirmed Friday, July 6th by the New York Supreme Court in by a unanimous 5 - 0 decision. It was a definitive blow to those who oppose equality and who now find themselves on the wrong side of history.

The decision came down from The Appellate Division of The Supreme Court in Rochester after a challenge by New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, an extreme Christian right wing fundamentalist group.

NYCF’s challenge was unusual in the way it attempted to craft its argument. Rather than claiming their individual rights were being encroached on by homosexual people being allowed to marry, which is the typical line of attack, they attempted to prove that a meeting between NY Governor Cuomo, NYC Mayor Bloomberg, and various state senators was a violation of state law. NYCF’s attorneys claimed that because meetings were held in private it violated state laws that require meetings to be held in public.

The Supreme Court was not interested in this argument and they went so far to say that even if they did find procedural wrongdoing on the part of lawmakers it still would not have been a sufficient enough reason to deny civil rights to millions of people.

Governor Cuomo released a statement following the ruling, “The court’s decision affirms that in our state, there is marriage equality for all, and with this decision, New York continues to stand as a progressive leader for the nation.”

You may read the full official court ruling here.