(New York, NY) AP - 12/09/05 - A gay rights group is vowing to appeal a state appeals court ruling that keeps the ban on same-sex marriage in New York City.
The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled four-to-one today that Judge Doris Ling-Cohan erred in February when she held that the state's domestic relations law is unconstitutional since it does not allow same-sex marriage.
The appeals court said her ruling exceeded the court's constitutional mandate and upsurped the state legislature.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a moderate Democrat who supports gay marriage, said he'll urge the Legislature to change the state's Domestic Relations Law to permit gay marriage.
The appellate judges said today that state laws regarding marriage "do not violate the due process and equal protection provisions of the New York State Constitution."
The earlier ruling had favored five same-sex couples who sued New York City because the city clerk had denied their marriage license applications. The decision was the first of its kind in New York City and was a step toward allowing gay weddings. Today's reversal keeps the status quo on same-sex marriage.
Justice David Saxe was the panel's dissenter. He said he saw no important public interest in barring same-sex marriage and said laws that bar it perpetuate discrimination.
Susan Sommer, senior lawyer at Lambda Legal, the gay rights organization that backed the same-sex marriage drive, vowed to appeal.
