NEW YORK/VERMONT CIVIL UNION CASE: Justin Katz

"In the first case in the nation that recognized a couple who entered into a Vermont civil union as spouses outside that state, Lambda Legal today asked an appeals court to uphold an earlier ruling that a gay man in New York is a legal spouse and able to sue St. Vincent's Hospital for medical negligence leading to his longtime partner's death."

I've given this story a bit of extra consideration not only because it is rooted in a pain with which anybody who cares about anybody can easily empathize, but also because multiple angles of the gay marriage debate and larger judicial problems come into play. ...

In one emotionally charged case--with an ideal plaintiff and particularly unforeseeable tragedy catalyzing the lawsuit--lie myriad angles through which gay marriage can become law by way of the judiciary. That this is so is a prima facie consequence of the magnitude of what the judge's logic has accomplished: not only is Vermont's civil union law imported to New York, but it is equated with marriage--all in one swoop.

The most direct way in which this case will become legal inclusion of homosexuals in marriage is that the court's reasoning will simply be copied as precedent for a less emotional issue. The court called a homosexual partner a "spouse"; therefore, the law says that such partners count as spouses, whatever the circumstances. ...

Another implication of this backward approach to requiring gay marriage to be portable is, obviously, that the Defense of Marriage Act was a waste of time and paper.

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posted by Eve at 6:03 PM VOTE

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