Feminist Law Profs Darren Rosenblum (Pace) and Sonia Katyal (Fordham) published an op-ed in today’s National Law Journal. Here is an excerpt:
By a vote of 38-24, the New York state Senate has decided to uphold marriage discrimination in New York state. * * * It is an insult to our dignity and that of our families. The Senate shamed our state by failing to establish the right of New Yorkers to marry without regard to sex, preventing our marriages, and incidentally depriving the state of substantial revenue from such weddings and increased tax revenue from newly married couples.
New York City has the largest lesbian and gay population of any U.S. city. It is the birthplace of the modern LGBT movement and the home to dozens of national and international LGBT civil rights and religious groups. We are in every industry from law to fashion, from public service to finance. We contribute enormously to the creativity and the prosperity of New York. Heterosexual New Yorkers know this : that’s why recent polls indicate that a majority of New Yorkers support ending marriage discrimination. But the state Senate disregarded the civil rights of a large and deserving minority for the ignorant homophobia of the past. * * *
The vote, had it gone the other way, would have confirmed all that New York is : a model of the diversity that has made this state, and this country, thrive. The Senate’s cowardice obligates lawyers to step into the breach. The New York State Bar Association, which has supported marriage equality for several years, has already condemned the Senate’s actions. As lawyers, we must not simply profit from helping our clients but direct the law toward justice.
The full op-ed is here.
-Bridget Crawford
