After years of wrangling, the same-sex marriage debate ended late in the day of June 24 when the New York state Legislature passed the Marriage Equality Act. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law, which will take effect within 30 days.
Two Hudson Valley lawmakers ”“ state Sens. John Bonacic and William Larkin ”“ voted against the bill. The Senate vote to pass the historic legislation 33-29. The bill sailed through the Assembly 80-63.
Cuomo, a Roman Catholic, has openly supported equal rights for homosexuals, marching with his daughters in the 2010 gay rights parade in Manhattan. He did insist the law be tweaked to make it possible for churches, synagogues and other houses of worship refuse to perform the ceremonies. On that point, the Legislature gave leeway, protecting religious institutions from lawsuits by same-sex couples seeking to exchange vows in those venues that refuse to perform the ceremony.
New City attorney M. Teresa A. Faherty has been practicing family law for more than two decades and has seen many changes in how divorce, child custody and division of assets have changed, offering her view of the hotly contested debate over legalizing same-sex unions in marriage. A civil union and marriage, Faherty said, are decidedly different. “The basic question is, ”˜So what?”™
“Laws are created to protect the values of a society and reflect the conclusion of a struggle, particularly today in the state. We have beliefs and values. Equality is one such value and certainly religious beliefs create values. People are struggling because they want to ensure equal treatment under the law exists. Simultaneously, they do not want a change in the religious meaning of marriage.”
Faherty said there are some important aspects in the passage of the same-sex marriage legislation. “There will be a tremendous impact upon the legal profession and a new source of tax income for the state, counties and municipalities. In addition, there will be tax benefits to the newly married couples they did not have prior to the marriage and would not have by a mere specialized civil contract. It is clearly a benefit to the couple and a economic benefit to our state.
“In a world where the right to jointly adopt, the right to enforce custody and the right to divorce have become a necessity,” said Faherty, “the law is going to have a dramatic economic and ethical impact.”
“Some see same-sex marriage as leading to many more weddings and therefore more catering, photography, videos, wedding gowns, tuxedo rentals, honeymoons, etc.,” said Brian Paz, family law practitioner at Jacobowitz & Gubits in Walden. “I think that is the revenue surge the state foresees. It means more marriage license fees ”“ and divorces, too. I recently met a woman from Vermont getting divorced from her female spouse.
“There is some consensus that same-sex marriage will reduce the need for government assistance programs and will lead to more economical living arrangements,” Paz said. “Married people live much more economically than two people living apart or even two unmarried people living together. Married people benefit from some preferences in areas like taxation and insurance. There is decidedly a difference.”
