NY Gay Marriage Case and Appeal Explained

Erik Stanley, chief counsel of the Liberty Counsel, explains the implications of Friday's ruling in favor of gay

Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 Posted: 3:33:07PM EST

The same-sex marriage debate erupted in New York City on Friday, as a state judge deemed New York’s marriage laws banning gay marriage unconstitutional. And while the city’s mayor Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he plans to appeal the decision, the implications of the ruling are staggering: the city may potentially become a San Francisco-equivalent of the East Coast and the state may follow in the direction of Massachusetts, should the appeal fail.

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Liberty Counsel the legal group that filed an amicus brief on behalf of the New York City Council for Friday’s case in support of traditional marriage, plans to file a brief for the appeal when it is carried onto the state’s highest court.

The following is the full text of a February 7, 2005 interview with Erik Stanley, chief counsel of the Liberty Counsel.

What are the implications of the appeal?

It’s good that the city appealing especially since three other judges in New York have earlier upheld the same laws as constitutional. This is just one judge and the state has three others who said marriage is between a man and a woman, and it [Judge Ling-Cohan’s decision] needs to be appealed. On appeal, we’re hopeful the state will strenuously argue in favor of traditional marriage.

The Liberty Counsel has already expressed fears that the city would not argue vigorously for the case when it was presented to Judge Ling-Cohan. Do you believe this will also be the case at the appellate court?

This was one of the situations at the trial court level. When we tried to intervene on the grounds that the state will not present a vigorous defense -- and it wasn’t as vigorous as it could’ve been – we were allowed to file an amicus brief. Certainly, the court in New York needs before it a voice of very strong advocacy for traditional marriage, and the Liberty Counsel will present that voice.

Through the amicus briefs?

Yes, through those briefs.

What are the prospects on winning this case?

I think the prospects are fairly good. If anything you can say the New York judges are trending toward denying same-sex marriage, and the chances that the courts will uphold traditional marriage are pretty high.

Should the appeal not succeed, what will be the result? Is it possible for a Massachusetts to occur all over again?

Absolutely. Eventually the four pending cases in the issue of same-sex marriage will make their way up to the state’s highest court, which is the court of appeals. This court then could possibly go in the way of Massachusetts. Now, we are hopeful it will not, but there is no guarantee.

This is precisely one of the reasons why we are pushing so hard for the passage of a Federal Marriage Amendment. Here you have on judge in New York that has thrown all the state laws on marriage into upheaval. We don’t want to have to wake up to the daily news to learn each day about what is happening to our marriage laws in the nation, and we believe this issue must be decided by the people once and for all.

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