QUEERLY BELOVED: Another city backs same-sex marriage

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, March 2, 2004

[JohnHuang2]

QUEERLY BELOVED
Another city backs
same-sex marriage
Mayor taking license applications, follows lead of N.Y. college town

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Posted: March 1, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

On the heels of 25 same-sex weddings in a college town near New York City, the mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., announced today she will accept marriage license applications from homosexual couples.

Ithaca, N.Y., Mayor Carolyn Peterson (Photo: News 10 Now Syracuse)

Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson said same-sex weddings will not be performed, but the city will accept license applications and forward them to the state Health Department, reported News 10 Now, the Syracuse, N.Y., cable network.

Last Friday, Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, about 75 miles north of New York City, solemnized 25 same-sex marriages and put another 500 names are on a waiting list.

San Francisco, under Mayor Gavin Newsom's order, issued the first officially sanctioned marriage licenses to same-sex couples in American history Feb. 12. More than 3,400 ceremonies have been conducted since then. About a week later, New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid intervened to stop a clerk in Bernalillo, N.M., who began issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

New York's Health Department says same-sex marriages are illegal, but Peterson vows the city and its attorney will fight the decision if the applications are denied.

"Same-sex couples deserve the equal protection of the law, the same as any other couple," she told reporters. "They deserve to be able to bring their families out of the status of second-class citizenship and into the full array of rights and responsibilities that are available to married couples."

This morning, two couples applied for licenses, which already are being forwarded to the Health Department, News 10 Now said.

Meanwhile, a coalition of about 50 homosexual couples have announced they will apply for licenses at New York City's clerk's office Thursday.

Yesterday, about 400 activists gathered in front of City Hall to demand Mayor Michael Bloomberg allow same-sex marriages.

"In this city of tolerance, diversity and unity it is past time that Mayor Michael Bloomberg give the civil right of marriage to same-sex couples and immediately instruct the city clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples," said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.

Bloomberg says he opposes same-sex marriage but also is against a constitutional amendment that would ban it.

The mayor's spokesman, Ed Skyler, said the city clerk is following state law and urged advocates to "spend their time persuading Albany to change the law, rather than calling on the city clerk to break it."

New York's attorney general has not addressed the issue. The New York legislature is considering a ban on same-sex marriage, similar to legislation passed by at least 37 states.

Last month, President Bush announced support for a federal marriage amendment.

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Quote of the Day by bmwcyle

[Slings and Arrows]

City of Evil ping!

[Nateman]

There's a Free Republic member who used to routinely post stuff as "Itacha is the city of evil". She might be interested in this story.

[Paleo Conservative]

Bloomberg says he opposes same-sex marriage but also is against a constitutional amendment that would ban it.

Sorry there really isn't any middle ground on this issue. Opposing a constitutional amendment banning "gay marriage" is effectively allowing "gay marriage" to be recognized through the back door.

[bobo1]

Last Friday, Jason West, mayor of New Paltz, about 75 miles north of New York City, "solemnized" 25 same-sex marriages and put another 500 names are on a waiting list.

Shouldn't "solemnized" be "Sodomized"?

BTW, those are cool 'toons. Does he ride a beemer? I do.

Blessings, Bobo

[bolobaby]

Opposing a constitutional amendment banning "gay marriage" is effectively allowing "gay marriage" to be recognized through the back door.

Interesting choice of words. ;)

[Paleo Conservative]

Interesting choice of words. ;)

You should read some more of my posts; I have over 10,000.

[Clemenza]

Ping!

Even the Greeks and Romans never stooped this low, although Caligula married his horse.

[goldstategop]

Its the latest chic cause in Blue America but its more an elite fetish than anything else. There's no popular demand for gay marriage.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Ithaca is the City of Evil

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Ithaca High School is apparently very worried about losing that NYS Indoctrination championship to New Paltz this year.

[general_re]

IHS isn't known as "Little Red" just for the heck of it - they earned that handle... ;)

[bc2]

Certainly, words have definitions. Marriage, by definition, is a union of 1 man and 1 woman in front of God facilitated by their Church. But is the US Constitution the place to define this?

The solution to the gay marriage issue is quite simple, but of course anyone who is a student of government knows that once a government has assumed some power, they never give it up without force.

Granting, regulating, or performing marriages is not a legitimate function of government at any level, but certainly not the Federal level. Marriage is a contract between a man and a woman and God, facilitated by their Church. Anything else is simply either common law marriage or some kind of civil union. Free people should be outraged that government has assumed the power to regulate something that is very personal and religious.

Someone corrected me on another thread and said that Justice Of The Peace weddings were part of common law that predicated the US Constitution. I don't know if this is fact, I would like someone to give me more info if they have any on this issue. I still feel that we must end marriage licenses and we must end justice of the peace weddings. Leave marriage to the private sector and to the Churches. It should be up to employers, private insurance companies and HMO's whether or not they want to recognize same-sex marriages and give same-sex partners access to health care, insurance policies, etc.

Some Churches will perform and recognize same-sex marriages. Some insurance companies will recognize them as well. Others will not. This is still, for now, a relatively free country.

The real threat to freedom and the average American way of life is first of all, the activist judges that are the real cause of this problem in the first place, and subsequently anyone who thinks that the Constitution should be amended for this type of reason. Amending the Constitution for this is bad politics, it's bad policy, and it's bad precedent. Instead of giving the government more power and enabling them to regulate even more of our private lives, we should take a little bit of our freedoms back and get the government out of the private issue of marriage, and leave it up to Churches and the private sector.

As someone brought to my attention on another thread, one of the main issues here isn't really the "gay issue", it's the "activist judge issue", and that is what must be addressed long before we amend the Constitution to define marriage.

The fact that no one has brought this up as a solution should be troubling in and of itself.

[NCC-1701]

This cancer is spreading and needs to be stopped!!!!!

[BSunday]

Ithaca, N.Y.

From what I've heard on FR, that really figures.

[thoughtomator]

Believe you me, better to just hear about it than to encounter it firsthand.

[atomicpossum]

When will some mayors start issuing concealed carry permits against state law? If the Left can do it, why not our side?

[presidio9]

The only thing suprising about this is that it took as long as it did. New Paltz has had government-endorsed perversion for the better part of a week now. For gosh sake Ithaca, get with the times!