Tag Archives: Group: New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms

StarGazette.com: A state appeals court Tuesday heard arguments on whether the state’s open meetings laws were violated during negotiations last year to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.

The Advocate: New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, with support from the Alliance Defense Fund, also launched the Courage Fund this summer to offer assistance to the handful of town clerks who have refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, most notably Rose Marie Belforti of Ledyard in upstate New York. The National Organization for Marriage also has supported the clerks.

Harshly criticizing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for the tactics he used to win approval of same-sex marriage, a state judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the enactment of New York’s Marriage Equality Act can proceed.

AuBurnPub.com: Rev. Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, said Friday if a lawsuit is filed against Belforti, she will have support. “We do have people we work with like the Alliance Defense Fund that are more than willing to represent (Belforti) and even the municipality at no cost,” he said. “ADF and Liberty Counsel tend to get involved in these matters. We don’t want there to be any cost to the town of Ledyard or the town clerk.” The Courage Fund was created by New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms to help clerks who oppose the state’s marriage law. McGuire said the Courage Fund doesn’t exist to provide clerks with legal advice, but does help them by connecting clerks to groups like ADF and assists with media requests.

Times Union Capitol Confidential Blog: . . . now a group opposing gay rites is starting its own video series. It shows local municipal clerks whose jobs have been affected by the need to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms is suing to have the law overturned, and the Alliance Defense Fund has offered money to defend clerks who refuse to issue the certificates . . .

The Advocate: Belforti, who earned $19,116 in her part-time clerk position last year, refuses to resign. New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a group of evangelical Protestants that advocated against the marriage equality law before it passed in June, has offered to connect her and other clerks to legal support from the Alliance Defense Fund.

Capitol Confidential: Most of the claims in the lawsuit, which was filed in July, deal with the procedures followed by the Senate in the run-up to its June 24 approval of the gay marriage bill. This is none of the court’s business, the filings argue.

The Advocate: The suit lists plaintiffs including the Rev. Jason McGuire and the Rev. Duane Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, which primarily represents evangelical Protestants across the state and campaigned against the bill in Albany. In recent weeks, the group has announced support from the Alliance Defense Fund to defend city and town clerks who refuse to marry same-sex couples.

The Advocate: New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms is helping to sponsor a rally of Christian bishops and clergy members at New York City Hall on Tuesday afternoon to respond to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has contributed high-profile lobbying, fund-raising and advocacy to the marriage equality campaign. Other sponsors include the Alliance Defense Fund and the National Organization for Marriage, which has issued an action alert urging members to contact 14 key state senators, including the four who announced their support on Monday.

Times Union: “Senate Democrats are prepping for today’s vote on three bills that would ‘fundamentally restructure matrimonial law,’ primarily through the addition of no-fault divorce to the existing grounds for spouses to seek the dissolution of a marriage.”