New York high court declines to legalize 'gay marriage;' ruling a win for conservatives

July 5, 2006, By Michael Foust, Baptist Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (BP)--Handing homosexual activist groups a significant defeat, New York's highest court upheld the state's marriage laws, ruling that "gay marriage" is an issue for the legislature, and not the courts, to decide.

"We hold that the New York Constitution does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex," Associate Judge Robert S. Smith wrote for the court. "Whether such marriages should be recognized is a question to be addressed by the legislature."

The ruling by the Court of Appeals was handed down barely a month after it heard oral arguments in late May. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 44 same-sex couples by Lambda Legal, a homosexual legal group, and the American Civil Liberties Union.