Unfortunate Marriage Defeats in NY and GA

Well Rod 2.0 and The New York Times were correct: the New York Court of Appeals ruled on same-sex marriage yesterday. In a 4-2 decision, the Court declared the discriminatory marriage laws of the state constitutional, but urged the Legislature to take up the issue. Keith Boykin, an attorney and Harvard Law School graduate was particularly disappointed with the decision:

Judge George Bundy Smith, regarded as the most liberal member of the court and the only African American judge on the court, signed onto an opinion that rejected comparisons between same-sex marriage bans and interracial marriage bans. As a black gay man who has spent years fighting against homophobia in the black community, that was the most disappointing aspect of the decision, that a liberal black judge just doesn't get it.

The two dissenters were Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Carmen Ciparick. Victoria Graffeo concurred with the plurality opinion upholding the state marriage laws but signaled that she thought the Legislature should change them.

To add insult to injury, in an unsurprising move, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously re-instated a same-sex marriage ban imposed by voter-passed consitutional amendment in the November 2004 election.