New York must honor same-sex marriages performed out of state

by Becky Scott, Posted Apr 6th 2008 4:03PM

Filed Under: Alternative Weddings, Relationships, Wedding Lore/Traditions

A woman in New York sued the community college she works for in order to get her same-sex marriage recognized. Patricia Martinez married her partner in Canada and later applied to get health benefits for her. The application was denied.

A state appellate court ruled that the community college must recognize the marriage, citing a longstanding marriage recognition rule. If a marriage is legally valid where it was performed, New York state must recognize it.

This ruling could help New Yorkers negotiate spousal health benefits for other same-sex marriages. And if New York must recognize it, will other states be far behind? As it stands now, any marriage in Vegas, Niagara Falls or other popular destinations are honored in all states. So what's to stop other couples from traveling to Massachusetts or Ontario to get married? And if they are legally married there, they could sue to get spousal coverage back in their home states.

It's only a matter of time before more of these lawsuits pop up. And even if states like California don't move to allow same-sex marriages, they may soon be forced to recognize them (if they don't already).

What are your thoughts - should states recognize same-sex marriages from other states?

Photo by kumon licensed under Creative Commons.

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Tags: gay, gay marriage, GayMarriage, new york, NewYork, same-sex-marriage