Proponents of same-sex marriage are only a few weeks into a new effort to pass a marriage equality bill in New York State by the end of this year’s legislative session, and already there are opposing voices offering civil unions as a potential “compromise.” As lawyers from both sides of the aisle who have been entrusted with pursuing the law on behalf of the public, we can agree that this is simply not an acceptable legal alternative.
A civil union reflects a second-class status that fails to protect committed same-sex couples who choose to be married. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue; this is a matter of protecting the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under law for all Americans.
In New York, there are more than 1,300 state rights and responsibilities that come with a marriage license. From spousal inheritance rights to the ability to file joint tax returns to child custody rules to the transferring of workers’ compensation benefits, the scope of marriage-related law is expansive. Some are fundamental, others mundane – but all serve to underscore how deeply interwoven New York’s marriage laws are and how extraordinarily they reach into the lives of countless people.
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