New York’s marriage—and divorce—laws are lame

In May, Governor David Paterson’s office directed state agencies to give out-of-state same-sex marriages “the same recognitions as any other legally performed union”—a pointed if partial corrective to the New York Court of Appeals’ rejection of gay marriage in 2006. The unique result is that queer New Yorkers can’t marry at home, but can get hitched elsewhere and be treated like spouses on their return. If some people struggle to tie the knot here, others face difficulty in untying it. New York is the only state without a no-fault divorce option, meaning that even couples wishing to split amicably must attribute blame, or undertake an official one-year separation that can increase the stress of a split. And that doesn’t even get into the issue of finances. In New York, there are no official income guidelines to which judges can refer in order to determine who should be paying what to their ex after the divorce. “The biggest single factor that would help the majority of New Yorkers would be guidance for [postmarital financial] maintenance,” says Catherine Douglass, executive director of inMotion, a New York City group that works with women unable to afford counsel in matrimonial, family and immigration law.

3 MINUTES!
Contact Governor Paterson’s office to praise his recognition of out-of-state same-sex unions (518-474-8390, ny.gov/governor). “It’s important that he hears from as many New Yorkers as possible that he made the right move,” says Sonia Ossorio, president of NOW-NYC, the local chapter of National Organization for Women. Putting pressure on state legislators is a major factor in bringing about comprehensive divorce reform and same-sex marriage in New York. Locate your representative via assembly.state.ny.us.

Volunteer your professional services to inMotion (inmotiononline.org). Those in the legal field are especially valuable, as are social workers and interpreters. Look for more suggestions on the website for the New York State Post-Marital Income Coalition (divorcereformny.org) when it launches later this month.

In the absence of same-sex marriage rights, the ACLU’s Get Busy, Get Equal website (gbge.aclu.org) contains tips on coordinating a grassroots campaign for domestic-partnership policies, from framing priorities to attracting support from religious groups. The New York branch is looking for volunteers to spearhead community letter-collecting projects. E-mail ebraudy@nyclu.org to get involved.

—Ben Walters

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