Tag Archives: State: New York

NY Times: “The National Organization for Marriage, a conservative Christian group that has fought efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in California and in the Northeast, has set its sights on New York with its latest media campaign.”

. . . convened on the initiative of Bill Gates . . . Described as the Good Club by one insider it included David Rockefeller Jr . . . Warren Buffett and George Soros . . . Michael Bloomberg . . . Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey.

Kenneth Lovett reports in the New York Daily News: “Nearly eight of 10 New Yorkers say the state Senate should put a bill legalizing gay marriage up for a vote regardless of whether there’s enough support to pass it, a new poll released Tuesday shows.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In People v. Ivanov, (NY Sup. Ct., Sept. 12, 2008)– decided several months ago but posted online for the first time last Friday– a New York trial court upheld New York’s hate crime statute.”

Scott Murphy writing at Catholic.net: “In September of 2005, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, 1st Department, said in its 4-1 ruling that the government has a ‘strong interest in fostering heterosexual marriage.’ The court went on to explain, ‘We find it even more troubling that the [Manhattan] court, upon determining the statute [in favor of traditional marriage] to be unconstitutional, proceeded to rewrite it and purportedly create a new constitutional right.’

Following this decision, Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona legal defense group that opposes same-sex ‘marriage,’ insightfully pointed out that, ‘marriage laws are not primarily about adult needs for official recognition and support, but about the well-being of children and society.’”

EdNews.org: “This time the picket was on the other side of the fence. Teachers from the Charter School for Applied Technologies in the Town of Tonawanda took to the picket line Monday, demanding more representation — from their own union.”

The New York Daily News reports: “The four men accused of plotting to blow up synagogues and shoot down a plane all did stretches in state prisons – a major breeding ground for Islamic radicalization.”

OneNewsNow reports: “Susan Mendelson of Jews for Jesus simply wanted to distribute literature and talk to people in a city park. Brett Harvey, an attorney with Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), explains what happened. ‘The city of Oyster Bay said you have to come to us to get a permit first just to have a conversation in a public park — and that simply is unconstitutional,’ he notes.”

There are 32 Democrats in the state senate. However, several, including pentecostal pastor Diaz, have stated they will vote against the same-sex marriage bill. Diaz says there are another six Democrats in the state senate who will not support the bill . . .

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “Lower Hudson Journal News reports on motions that were granted in the Ramapo, New York town court yesterday in two cases pitting zoning authorities against some of the town’s Orthodox Jewish population.”

AP: “Seven New York residents have been indicted on charges of running a prostitution ring on Craigslist.”

“In contrast, groups working to legalize marriage for gay couples have been laying the groundwork for more than four years, lobbying lawmakers and funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to their campaigns.”

NY Times: “Gov. David A. Paterson urged the State Senate on Sunday to take swift action on legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry, signaling that he intends to increase pressure on lawmakers as the end of the 2009 legislative session approaches. With six weeks left before the State Legislature adjourns for the year, gay rights advocates remain short of the support they need in the Senate, and there is an increasing sense among those who support same-sex marriage that time is running out.”

“City officials have no right to threaten and arrest citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights in public, especially on the pretext of revised codes that have already been ruled unconstitutional.”

Sen. Tom Duane claims one of his Republican colleagues is on the cusp of publicly announcing his or her support for same-sex marriage, the DN’s Frank Lombardi reports.

Public Broadcasting: “The New York Civil Liberties Union is weighing in on claims made by religious groups and others that are opposed to the same-sex marriage bill. ”

AFP: “The poll by Quinnipiac University shows that 46 percent of New York state voters opposed same-sex marriage, while 46 percent supported it.”

“In the hours leading up to the Assembly vote, lobbyists for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group that has sued the state for recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, were holding meetings with lawmakers.”

Rick Karlin reports at the Times Union‘s Capitol Confidential blog: “The Assembly is about an hour into the same sex marriage debate and its expected to go on for a while . . . The bill is expected to pass and the focus will then turn to the Senate.”

NY Times: “Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell wants desperately to persuade his colleagues to legalize gay marriage. Here is how he has pursued Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball’s vote . . . With the Legislature set to take up the bill to legalize same-sex marriage on Tuesday, Mr. O’Donnell, the gay older brother of the comedian Rosie O’Donnell, has emerged as a tenacious, ingratiating, playful and sometimes prickly leader of the effort to pass the legislation.”

Kenneth Lovett and Glenn Blain report in the New York Daily News: “Same-sex marriage in New York is expected to inch closer to legalization Tuesday when the Assembly takes up the controversial measure . . . ‘Any time people have had the opportunity to vote, they voted to maintain the traditional definition of marriage,’ said Brian Raum, of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

“. . . the fate of Gov. David A. Paterson’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage, and lobbying is intensifying. The measure is expected to easily pass the State Assembly, which approved a similar bill in 2007 and has scheduled its vote for Tuesday.”

Chicago Tribune: These are serious cases of widespread importance, where we see same-sex couples attempting to use the laws of another state to push their agenda in a state that does not recognize their union,” said Jim Campbell, litigation counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. “This is a danger that will spread to all states but will not necessarily result in same-sex marriage in all states,” Campbell said, noting that opponents would continue to press their elected officials to reject gay-marriage initiatives.

Long Island Press: “A North Amityville man was arrested on Saturday, May 2, for shooting and seriously injuring a man outside Stone Hedge, a strip club in West Babylon, on April 17, Suffolk Police say.”

NY Times:
“’I don’t care what the politicians think,’ Mr. Flake, a former Democratic congressman and one of the city’s most influential religious leaders, thundered last week during a Sunday service at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in Queens. ‘Ain’t nothing perfect about laying down and signing a license with somebody who got the same body parts you got.’ . . . But Mr. Flake is also a mentor to the Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, who is among a handful of political leaders in Albany who will be responsible for the fate of same-sex marriage in New York.”

Buffalo News: “Religious leaders opposed to gay marriage in New York State would have a ‘better moral standing’ in the raging debate over the issue had they spoken out against discrimination and other abuses gays suffered in years past, Gov. David A. Paterson said Tuesday.”

Daily Gazette: “All of the city’s topless dancing bars are now closed, the last one shutting its door without fanfare two months ago. Aquarius burst back into the news Saturday when a private party held by a DJ ended with two brothers shot, one fatally. But by then the bar’s topless dancing was long since over.”

WTEN.com: “Thousands of people rallied in Albany on Tuesday in a call for gay marriages to be legal in the State of New York.”

Fox News: “Republican Jim Tedisco called Murphy to concede Friday afternoon, FOX News has learned. Murphy won by just 399 votes, according to the New York Board of Elections.”

NY Daily News The Daily Politics Blog: “The Assembly’s Judiciary Committee will take up Gov. David Paterson’s same-sex marriage program bill on Tuesday – the same day the Empire State Pride Agenda is holding its Equality & Justice Lobby Day in Albany.” The link includes a promo video by Empire State Pride Agenda.

HRC Back Story Blog: “The New York State Assembly on Tuesday voted 97-38 to pass the Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act (GENDA A.5710), which would add gender identity and expression as protected categories under the state’s human rights law.”

New York Times: “Seeking to avoid a potentially drawn-out battle in Albany, city education officials have decided to try to get around a 1998 state ban on converting private schools to charter schools by arguing that the new charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently run, will open as entirely new schools.”

Kenneth P. Vogel reports at Politico: “Greg Scott, spokesman for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian conservative legal group that litigates marriage-related cases in New York and other states, said, ‘We are happy to see a prominent voice coming out in support of marriage in New York.’”

Religion Clause Blog: “A New York trial court has denied an exemption for 2006-08 property taxes for 130 acres of land in Pomona, New York owned by Congregation Rabbinical College of Tartikov, according to a report last week by the Lower Hudson Journal News.”

Buffalo News: “By a margin of 53 percent to 39 percent, respondents to the Siena College poll believe the Senate should pass marriage-equality legislation introduced last week by Gov. David A. Paterson. Eight percent were unsure or had no opinion.”

New York Post: “The former mayor, in an extended interview with The Post, also predicted that Gov. Paterson’s high-profile effort to legalize gay marriage would anger many New Yorkers and spark a revolt that could help sweep Republicans into office in 2010.”

CNN: “A new poll indicates that majority of New Yorkers support the legalization of same-sex marriages. Fifty-three percent of New Yorkers questioned in a Siena College Research Institute poll support a bill that would allow same-sex couples to wed, with 39 percent opposing the move.” The Poll

Newsday: “An early morning shooting Friday at a West Babylon strip club left one victim wounded, Suffolk police said.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Flynn v Rabbi Haskel Lookstein Middle School of Ramaz, (NY Sup. Ct., April 14, 2009), a New York state trial court held that Kevin Flynn, the former coordinator of athletics for a New York Jewish day school, stated a prima facie case of religious discrimination and could proceed to discovery.”

AP: “The proposal is the same bill the Democrat-controlled state Assembly passed in 2007 before it died in the Senate . . . ‘I’m introducing a bill to bring marriage equality to the state of New York,’ Paterson said to applause, surrounded by leaders including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.”

“One case was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, which is appealing the Court of Appeal’s ruling in September that found Paterson was within his right as governor to issue a directive ordering all state agencies to recognize out-of-state gay marriages. ADF argues that recognizing same-sex marriage performed in other jurisdictions is up to the Legislature, not the governor.”

Jay P. Greene writes at the Wall Street Journal: “On education policy, appeasement is about as ineffective as it is in foreign affairs. Many proponents of school choice, especially Democrats, have tried to appease teachers unions by limiting their support to charter schools while opposing private school vouchers. They hope that by sacrificing vouchers, the unions will spare charter schools from political destruction. But these reformers are starting to learn that appeasement on vouchers only whets unions appetites for eliminating all meaningful types of choice.”

NY Times: “Gov. David A. Paterson on Thursday will announce plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, according to people with knowledge of the governor’s plans.”

AP: “Dolan said he would challenge any efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, but insisted that his position was not anti-gay . . . ‘We would defend their rights.’ However, marriage must remain as it always has been, between one man and one woman, he said.”

Lockport Union-Sun & Journal: “The juxtaposition has become more troublesome now that Wright is raising his children just around the corner. He’s down the street from a store he says is teaching men to treat women as sex objects and to pass those preconceptions on to the next generation. The effect can be obvious or subtle, Wright said.”

The Religion Clause Blog: “In Youth Alive v. Hauppauge School District, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29017 (ED NY, April 6, 2009), a New York federal district court dismissed as moot most of the claims asserted by two high school students regarding difficulties in organizing and operating a Bible club at their school . . . A controversy remained however over the school’s failure to provide a paid advisor for the club, called Youth Alive. The court concluded that discovery is necessary as to this claim . . . ”

A woman whose same-sex partner gave birth to a child does not have standing to assert parental rights after the couple broke up, a New York state appeals panel ruled Thursday in an unsigned, unanimous opinion.

NY Post: “Eleven federal, state and city levies add as much as 33 percent to the cost of New Yorkers’ cellphones, a Post analysis found . . . People trying to save money with multiline family plans are hit harder.”

WGRZ.com: “Gov. David Paterson said Wednesday he plans to re-introduce legislation to make same-sex marriages legal in New York. The legislation is expected to mirror a gay-marriage bill introduced in 2007 by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer . . .”

Politico (Ben Smith’s Blog): “The National Organization for Marriage, a prominent backer of the successful campaign against same-sex marriage in California, is launching a $1.5 million ad campaign this morning aimed at forestalling same-sex marriage support in other key states. The campaign, whose 60-second television ad is above, seeks to energize the opponents of gay marriage by making the case that it will impinge directly on their own lives. The ads will air in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Iowa.”

NY Times: “New York and New Jersey are both closer to legalizing same-sex marriage than they were a year ago, but it still could be some time before either state acts. In New York the issue will likely turn on a handful of Republican votes in the Senate. (The Assembly has already passed a gay marriage bill by a comfortable margin.)”

Lambda Legal: “Lambda Legal, with the assistance of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, filed a lawsuit today at the US District Court for the Northern District of New York on behalf of Charlie Pratt, who endured years of antigay harassment during his time at Indian River High School, and his sister, Ashley Petranchuk, a sophomore who is trying to start a gay–straight alliance at the same high school years after her brother left.”

Capital News 9: “But according to a Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday, only 41 percent of New York voters support legalizing gay marriage. Civil unions get 33 percent support while 19 percent want no legal recognition . . .” The report further quotes a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith ‘. . . at the present time he does not believe there are sufficient votes in the Senate to pass the marriage equality bill.’”

NY Times: “Gay-rights groups say that momentum from back-to-back victories on same-sex marriage in Vermont and Iowa could spill into other states, particularly since at least nine other legislatures are considering measures this year to allow marriage between gay couples.”

One News Now: Jim Campbell, a spokesman for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), explains the legal proceedings. “ADF has filed a few lawsuits challenging various actions by New York government officials in which they have declared that they will start recognizing out-of-state, same-sex ‘marriages,’” he points out.

“New England remains the nucleus of the same-sex marriage movement, with a campaign under way to extend marriage rights to gay men and lesbians in all six of the region’s states by 2012.”

Ronald L. Caravan writing in The Valley News: Both suits were filed by the Alliance Defense Fund and New York attorneys associated with that organization . . . Interviewed by CNS News in January, ADF attorney Jim Campbell noted that “the public policy of New York is that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.” . . . ADF senior counsel Brian Raum, who argued the Lewis case, stated, “Our position from the beginning has been that the legislature has the exclusive authority regarding the definition of marriage, and the definition of marriage in New York is clear—it’s between a man and a woman, and the (state’s) highest court has already said that.”

Fox News (AP) reports: “Green says he was psychologically affected by seeing the sexually explicit video, which he says depicted Pike with a young girl. Pike was a convicted sex offender who volunteered at local churches.”

Javier C. Hernandez reports in The New York Times: “The city’s Department of Education, facing a lawsuit accusing it of violating state law, retreated on Thursday from a plan to shut down three traditional public schools to make way for charter schools.”

NYACLU press release: “In anticipation of its passage later today, the New York Civil Liberties Union applauded the City Council for legislation that will close perceived loopholes in current law and safeguard women’s access to reproductive health care clinics while protecting the protest rights of abortion opponents.”

Michael Foust writes in the Baptist Press: “Technically, neither of the cases involves Democratic Gov. David A. Paterson’s 2008 directive ordering state agencies to recognize out-of-state “gay marriages.” Campbell, though, said ADF will ask the court to issue a ruling covering Paterson’s order and any similar ones statewide.”

CitizenLink: “New York state and local officials shouldn’t recognize the laws of foreign jurisdictions when they conflict with state law,” said Brian Raum, senior legal counsel for ADF. “These officials have overstepped their authority in order to forward the agenda of special interest groups.”

Jeremy W. Peters reports in the New York Times: “Lower courts have already sided with two government entities that revised their policies to honor the marriages, but those decisions were appealed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian group that is waging multiple legal battles in New York to stop state and local entities from recognizing marriages of same-sex couples who were wed in places, like Massachusetts and Canada, where the ceremony is legal.”

“. . . attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund in lawsuits against officials who have attempted to recognize out-of-state same-sex ‘marriages’ in contradiction to state law.”

Times-Picayune: “There’s a hold on an order to put both fathers’ names on the birth certificate of a boy born in Shreveport and adopted in New York State by a gay couple.”

Joel Stashenko writes at NY Law Journal: “Ralph Halpern, also a member of the State Bar committee, said the new rules 1.6 and 3.3 requiring lawyers to reveal client falsehoods ‘clashes with the common-law concept of the lawyer-client confidentiality.’ He predicted the validity of the new requirement would be litigated in the courts.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund is considering a federal lawsuit against Oyster Bay, New York, for violating a citizen’s free-speech rights.”

One News Now: “A self-proclaimed bisexual male teacher in New York has invited his seventh-grade students and their parents to witness his commitment ceremony to another man.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Hermandad Y Asociados, Inc. v Movimiento Misionero Mundial, Inc., (NY Sup. Ct., March 6, 2009), a New York state trial court interpreted Sec. 12 of the New York Religious Corporations Law. The section requires court approval for the sale, mortgage or long-term lease of church property.”

The Columbia Spectator reports: “This campaign is meant to remedy the lack of acknowledgment of the LGBTQ population in the Housing office, and to change the institutionalized heteronormative assumption that all Barnard students are straight and therefore should live with women because that isn’t who they are attracted to,” Batta explained.

Boston Herald: “Married lesbian couples in New York City can now be listed as parents on birth certificates as soon as their children are born. Before, the women would have to go through an adoption process to be listed as the official parents. The city Board of Health voted Tuesday to make the change.”

NY Times: “The United Federation of Teachers and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging that the city’s Department of Education violated state law by moving to replace traditional public schools with charter schools without proper consultation of neighborhood school boards.”

IPCC Youth (WorldNetDaily.com): “The Alliance Defense Fund announced this week it has reached an agreement with the New York Department of Transportation to allow a tractor-trailer owned by Daniel Burritt to remain on his private property that sits beside a public highway.”

NY Times (AP): “Senator Charles E. Schumer said on Monday that he now supports gay marriage. ‘It’s time. Equality is something that has always been a hallmark of America and no group should be deprived of it,’ Mr. Schumer said in a statement. ‘New York, which has always been at the forefront on issues of equality, is appropriately poised to take a lead on this issue.’”

LifeNews: “Saying its free speech rights were denied, Children First filed suit with assistance from Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and, in January 2005, a federal judge ruled it had sufficiently argued its First Amendment rights would be violated.”