Court Hears challenge to NYS partner benefits for gay couples [View All]

[ccharles000]

http://www.365gay.com/news/court-hears-challenge-to-nys-partner-benefits-for-gay-couples/

(Albany, New York) A midlevel New York State appeals court is considering a challenge to the policy granting benefits to the same-sex married partners of state workers.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal practice, argued that then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer acted illegally when he directed the Department of Civil Service in 2007 to extended health benefits to those spouses.

The ADF, which fights LGBT issues across the country, is representing four upstate taxpayers.

Attorney Brian Raum told the five justices of the Appellate Division that Spitzer had usurped the authority of the legislature.

Raum pointed to the 2006 ruling by New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry but that the issue of same-sex marriage could be taken up by the Legislature.

“That may change in New York, but it has to be left to the democratic process,” said Raum told the court.