NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7600
SPONSOR: O'Donnell
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the domestic relations law, in
relation to the ability to marry
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: This bill provides same-sex couples
the same opportunity to enter into civil marriages as opposite-sex
couples. The bill also provides that no member of the clergy may be
compelled to perform any marriage ceremony.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill sets forth
legislative intent.
Section 2 of the bill adds a new Section 10-a to the Domestic Relations
Law (DRL) providing that: (1) a marriage that is otherwise valid shall
be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the
same or different sex; (2) no government treatment or legal status,
effect, right, benefit, privilege, protection or responsibility relating
to marriage shall differ based on the parties to the marriage being or
having been of the same sex rather than a different sex; and (3) all
relevant gender-specific language set forth in or referenced by New York
law shall be construed in a gender-neutral manner.
Section 3 of the bill amends DRL § 13 to provide that no application for
a marriage license shall be denied on the ground that the parties are of
the same, or a different, sex.
Section 4 of the bill amends DRL § 11(1) to make clear that no member of
the clergy acting in such capacity may be required to perform any
marriage.
Section 5 of the bill sets forth the effective date.
 
EXISTING LAW: Although the Domestic Relations Law contains no specif-
ic prohibition against, or allowance for, marriages between individuals
of the same sex, the New York Court of Appeals has held that New York
statutory law limits marriage within New York State to opposite-sex
couples. See Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338 (2005).
 
JUSTIFICATION: The "freedom to marry" is, in the words of the United
States Supreme Court, "one of the vital personal rights essential to the
orderly pursuit of happiness by free people." Loving v. Virginia, 388
U.S.1, 12(1967). In New York, however, certain couples who seek to exer-
cise this freedom, and partake of its rights and responsibilities by
mutual consent, may not do so solely because they are of the same sex.
The bar against same-sex marriages exists regardless of how long the
individuals have lived together, or whether they are raising children
through legally recognized joint custody arrangements. This bill removes
the barriers in New York law that deprive individuals of the equal right
to marry the person of their choice, by granting the same legal recogni-
tion to all civil marriages regardless of whether those who enter into
them are of the same, or of a different, sex. Partners unable to enter
into a civil marriage - and their children - lack basic legal
protections taken for granted by married couples. in such areas as prop-
erty ownership, inheritance, health care, hospital visitation, taxation,
insurance coverage, child custody, pension benefits and testimonial
privileges, married couples receive important safeguards against the
loss or injury of a spouse, and crucial assurances against legal intru-
sion into their marital privacy. As important, unions lacking the
State's recognition are denoted, by force of law, as somehow not equal
to other comparable relationships. Civil marriage is the means by which
the State defines a couple's place in society. Those who are excluded
from its rubric are told by the institutions of the Slate, in essence,
that their solemn commitment to one another has no legal weight.
Just as the right to marry confers important benefits on individuals,
the institution of marriage produces incalculable benefits for society,
by fostering stable familial relationships. Same-sex couples who wish to
marry are not simply looking to obtain additional rights, they are seek-
ing out substantial responsibilities as well: to undertake significant
and binding obligations to one another, and to lives of "shared intimacy
and mutual financial and emotional support, Hernandez v. Robles, 7
N.Y.3d 338, 385 (2005) (Kaye, C.J., dissenting). Granting legal recogni-
tion to these relationships can only strengthen New York's families, by
extending the ability to participate in this crucial social institution
to all New Yorkers.
The history of this country for more than two centuries has been the
story of once excluded individuals and groups gaining gradual access to
equal rights under law. New York State, in particular, has played a
proud and honorable part in that history, from hosting the foundational
women's rights convention at Seneca Falls in 1848, to breaking base-
ball's color barrier, to witnessing the seminal event of the modem gay
rights movement in New York City four decades ago. New York legislators
and other political leaders, of both parties and of all viewpoints, have
had an important role in this process, and in the gradual extension of
equal treatment to gays and lesbians in particular. In 1983, Governor
Mario Cuomo first banned discrimination in state employment by Executive
Order. In 2002, Governor Pataki extended the same principle to the
private sector by signing into law the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimi-
nation Act. That year, the State gave its first legal recognition to
same-sex relationships when the Legislature unanimously passed - and the
Governor signed - a bill extending workers' compensation benefits to all
those who lost a partner on 9/11. Yet the institution of marriage
remains closed to loving same-sex couples who seek only to be able to
show their mutual commitment as other individuals do. Passage of this
bill would remedy that flaw, and represent yet another important and
historic step in the process by which all citizens of New York State are
granted full and equal rights.
Individuals on both sides of the questions raised by this bill hold
deep-seated views that arise from a host of ethical and religious
considerations. To ensure that the bill does not improperly intrude into
matters of conscience or religious belief, the bill affirms that no
member of the clergy can be compelled to solemnize any marriage. In
short, this bill grants equal access to the government-created legal
institution of civil marriage, while leaving the religious institution
of marriage to its own separate, and fully autonomous, sphere.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.8590 (passed Assembly 2007): A.7732
(passed Assembly 2009).
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: The bill will require additional state expendi-
tures for spousal benefits for those partners of state employees who are
not eligible for such benefits under current law, and who are married
under this legislation. At the same time, however, allowing same-sex
marriage would have numerous positive fiscal impacts. A 2007 report by
the New York City Comptroller detailed numerous sources of added revenue
that would result from enacting marriage equality in New York State,
including tax revenue from additional weddings, higher intake of marital
licensing fees and reduction of means-tested benefit payments as a
result of aggregated marital income. Moreover, any negative budgetary
impact from added benefit payments will be limited, as many same-sex
couples already enjoy such benefits through a variety of administrative
schemes, or as a result of out-of-state marriages.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: This bill shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7600
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 10, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. O'DONNELL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to the ability
to marry
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. Marriage is a fundamental human right.
2 Same-sex couples and their children should have the same access as
3 others to the protections, responsibilities, rights, obligations, and
4 benefits of civil marriage. Stable family relationships help build a
5 stronger society. For the welfare of the community and in fairness to
6 all New Yorkers, this act formally recognizes otherwise-valid marriages
7 without regard to whether the parties are of the same or different sex.
8 It is the intent of the legislature that the marriages of same-sex and
9 different-sex couples be treated equally in all respects under the law.
10 The omission from this act of changes to other provisions of law shall
11 not be construed as a legislative intent to preserve any legal
12 distinction between same-sex couples and different-sex couples with
13 respect to marriage. The legislature intends that all provisions of law
14 which utilize gender-specific terms in reference to the parties to a
15 marriage, or which in any other way may be inconsistent with this act,
16 be construed in a gender-neutral manner or in any way necessary to
17 effectuate the intent of this act.
18 § 2. The domestic relations law is amended by adding a new section
19 10-a to read as follows:
20 § 10-a. Sex of parties. 1. A marriage that is otherwise valid shall be
21 valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same
22 or different sex.
23 2. No government treatment or legal status, effect, right, benefit,
24 privilege, protection or responsibility relating to marriage, whether
25 deriving from statute, administrative or court rule, public policy,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01178-01-1
A. 7600 2
1 common law or any other source of law, shall differ based on the parties
2 to the marriage being or having been of the same sex rather than a
3 different sex. When necessary to implement the rights and responsibil-
4 ities of spouses under the law, all gender-specific language or terms
5 shall be construed in a gender-neutral manner in all such sources of
6 law.
7 § 3. Section 13 of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
8 720 of the laws of 1957, is amended to read as follows:
9 § 13. Marriage licenses. It shall be necessary for all persons
10 intended to be married in New York state to obtain a marriage license
11 from a town or city clerk in New York state and to deliver said license,
12 within sixty days, to the clergyman or magistrate who is to officiate
13 before the marriage ceremony may be performed. In case of a marriage
14 contracted pursuant to subdivision four of section eleven of this chap-
15 ter, such license shall be delivered to the judge of the court of record
16 before whom the acknowledgment is to be taken. If either party to the
17 marriage resides upon an island located not less than twenty-five miles
18 from the office or residence of the town clerk of the town of which such
19 island is a part, and if such office or residence is not on such island
20 such license may be obtained from any justice of the peace residing on
21 such island, and such justice, in respect to powers and duties relating
22 to marriage licenses, shall be subject to the provisions of this article
23 governing town clerks and shall file all statements or affidavits
24 received by him while acting under the provisions of this section with
25 the town clerk of such town. No application for a marriage license shall
26 be denied on the ground that the parties are of the same, or a differ-
27 ent, sex.
28 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 11 of the domestic relations law, as
29 amended by chapter 319 of the laws of 1959, is amended to read as
30 follows:
31 1. A clergyman or minister of any religion, or by the senior leader,
32 or any of the other leaders, of The Society for Ethical Culture in the
33 city of New York, having its principal office in the borough of Manhat-
34 tan, or by the leader of The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture,
35 having its principal office in the borough of Brooklyn of the city of
36 New York, or of the Westchester Ethical Society, having its principal
37 office in Westchester county, or of the Ethical Culture Society of Long
38 Island, having its principal office in Nassau county, or of the River-
39 dale-Yonkers Ethical Society having its principal office in Bronx coun-
40 ty, or by the leader of any other Ethical Culture Society affiliated
41 with the American Ethical Union; provided that no clergyman, minister or
42 Society for Ethical Culture leader shall be required to solemnize any
43 marriage when acting in his or her capacity under this subdivision.
44 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.