American bar association for gay marriage

At a press conference organized by the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association, leaders of New York bar associations today urged the state Legislature to bring an end to legal discrimination against same-sex couples who wish to marry in New York. In calling for a marriage equality law, the bar associations said existing laws discriminate against same-sex couples in a wide range of areas, including health care, housing, child raising, inheritance, wrongful death actions and property rights should a couple split up.

American Bar Association Adopts Gay Marriage Resolution

The bar associations noted that enacting the pending marriage equality legislation would not require clergy to perform same-sex marriages. The bar associations added that civil unions or domestic partnerships are not an acceptable substitute for marriage, because they are poorly understood and erratically recognized; confer an inferior status on same-sex couples; will present ongoing legislative challenges as the laws pertaining to marriage are routinely amended; and will allow for limited or no portability of rights in other states or federal recognition should the Defense of Marriage Act be repealed or overturned.

Moreover, civil unions would be a backward step in a state that already recognizes the validity of same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions. The bar associations urge the legislature to pass a bill providing full marriage equality for all couples in the State of New York and end the second-class citizenship to which an entire class of New York couples and their families have been relegated.

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