New York High Court: Same-Sex Couples Entitled to Benefits

The New York State Court of Appeals ruled today that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to public employee health insurance coverage and some, but not all, benefits provided to opposite-sex married couples (Yahoo! News). The lawsuit, which was brought by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, challenged the granting of those benefits by the New York State Civil Service Department and Westchester County, and was upheld in a lower court. The court declined to address whether the state must recognize same-sex marriage and urged the Legislature to settle the issue.

Gay rights advocates pointed out that the decision is the most recent in a series of wins that bolsters their case for the state Senate to approve the marriage equality bill passed by the Assembly earlier this year. The bill has been stalled in the Senate, which has promised to vote by the end of the year. Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal noted that 20 New York judges have ruled in favor of rights for same-sex couples. "It absolutely builds momentum," Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle said.

Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick cautioned in a concurring opinion that problems would arise from the failure to address the larger question of recognizing same-sex marriages. "The effect of the majority's rationale in affirming these orders will be to permit an unworkable pattern of conflicting executive and administrative directives.... We ought to avoid the confusion that would arise from a same-sex couple considered legally married by one agency for one purpose, but not married by another agency for a different purpose."