S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  7732

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                             April 22, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A. O'DONNELL, GOTTFRIED, GLICK, TITONE, KELLNER,
  SILVER, BING, ROSENTHAL, JEFFRIES, DINOWITZ, JOHN, KAVANAGH,  DenDEKK-
  ER, SCHIMEL, HEVESI, HOYT, SAYWARD, BENEDETTO -- Multi-Sponsored by --
  M.  of  A.  ALESSI,  AUBRY,  BOYLAND,  BRENNAN, BRODSKY, CAHILL, COOK,
  DUPREY,  ENGLEBRIGHT,  FARRELL,  FIELDS,  GIANARIS,  JAFFEE,  LANCMAN,
  LATIMER,  LAVINE, LENTOL, LIFTON, V. LOPEZ, LUPARDO, McENENY, MILLMAN,
  NOLAN, ORTIZ, PAULIN, PERALTA, PRETLOW, J. RIVERA, N. RIVERA, SWEENEY,
  THIELE, TOWNS, WEISENBERG, WRIGHT, ZEBROWSKI --  (at  request  of  the
  Governor) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

AN  ACT  to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to the ability
  to marry

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. Legislative intent. Marriage is a fundamental human right.
Same-sex couples and their children  should  have  the  same  access  as
others  to  the  protections, responsibilities, rights, obligations, and
benefits of civil marriage. Stable family  relationships  help  build  a
stronger  society.  For  the welfare of the community and in fairness to
all New Yorkers, this act formally recognizes otherwise-valid  marriages
without regard to whether the parties are of the same or different sex.
  It is the intent of the legislature that the marriages of same-sex and
different-sex  couples be treated equally in all respects under the law.
The omission from this act of changes to other provisions of  law  shall
not  be  construed  as  a  legislative  intent  to  preserve  any  legal
distinction between same-sex  couples  and  different-sex  couples  with
respect  to marriage. The legislature intends that all provisions of law
which utilize gender-specific terms in reference to  the  parties  to  a
marriage,  or  which in any other way may be inconsistent with this act,
be construed in a gender-neutral manner  or  in  any  way  necessary  to
effectuate the intent of this act.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
A                                                          LBD12040-01-9

              

A. 7732                             2

  S  2.  The  domestic  relations law is amended by adding a new section
10-a to read as follows:
  S 10-A. SEX OF PARTIES. 1. A MARRIAGE THAT IS OTHERWISE VALID SHALL BE
VALID  REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PARTIES TO THE MARRIAGE ARE OF THE SAME
OR DIFFERENT SEX.
  2. NO GOVERNMENT TREATMENT OR LEGAL STATUS,  EFFECT,  RIGHT,  BENEFIT,
PRIVILEGE,  PROTECTION  OR  RESPONSIBILITY RELATING TO MARRIAGE, WHETHER
DERIVING FROM STATUTE, ADMINISTRATIVE  OR  COURT  RULE,  PUBLIC  POLICY,
COMMON LAW OR ANY OTHER SOURCE OF LAW, SHALL DIFFER BASED ON THE PARTIES
TO  THE  MARRIAGE  BEING  OR  HAVING  BEEN OF THE SAME SEX RATHER THAN A
DIFFERENT SEX. WHEN NECESSARY TO IMPLEMENT THE RIGHTS  AND  RESPONSIBIL-
ITIES  OF  SPOUSES  UNDER THE LAW, ALL GENDER-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE OR TERMS
SHALL BE CONSTRUED IN A GENDER-NEUTRAL MANNER IN  ALL  SUCH  SOURCES  OF
LAW.
  S  3.  Section 13 of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
720 of the laws of 1957, is amended to read as follows:
  S 13.   Marriage licenses.   It shall be  necessary  for  all  persons
intended  to  be  married in New York state to obtain a marriage license
from a town or city clerk in New York state and to deliver said license,
within sixty days, to the clergyman or magistrate who  is  to  officiate
before  the  marriage  ceremony may be performed.  In case of a marriage
contracted pursuant to subdivision four of section eleven of this  chap-
ter, such license shall be delivered to the judge of the court of record
before  whom  the acknowledgment is to be taken.  If either party to the
marriage resides upon an island located not less than twenty-five  miles
from the office or residence of the town clerk of the town of which such
island  is a part, and if such office or residence is not on such island
such license may be obtained from any justice of the peace  residing  on
such  island, and such justice, in respect to powers and duties relating
to marriage licenses, shall be subject to the provisions of this article
governing town clerks  and  shall  file  all  statements  or  affidavits
received  by  him while acting under the provisions of this section with
the town clerk of such town. NO APPLICATION FOR A MARRIAGE LICENSE SHALL
BE DENIED ON THE GROUND THAT THE PARTIES ARE OF THE SAME, OR  A  DIFFER-
ENT, SEX.
  S  4.  Subdivision  1  of section 11 of the domestic relations law, as
amended by chapter 319 of the laws  of  1959,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  1.  A  clergyman or minister of any religion, or by the senior leader,
or any of the other leaders, of The Society for Ethical Culture  in  the
city  of New York, having its principal office in the borough of Manhat-
tan, or by the leader of  The  Brooklyn  Society  for  Ethical  Culture,
having  its  principal  office in the borough of Brooklyn of the city of
New York, or of the Westchester Ethical Society,  having  its  principal
office  in Westchester county, or of the Ethical Culture Society of Long
Island, having its principal office in Nassau county, or of  the  River-
dale-Yonkers  Ethical Society having its principal office in Bronx coun-
ty, or by the leader of any other  Ethical  Culture  Society  affiliated
with the American Ethical Union; PROVIDED THAT NO CLERGYMAN, MINISTER OR
SOCIETY  FOR  ETHICAL  CULTURE LEADER SHALL BE REQUIRED TO SOLEMNIZE ANY
MARRIAGE WHEN ACTING IN HIS OR HER CAPACITY UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION.
  S 5. This act shall take effect immediately.