New York Recognizes Same-Sex Marriages From Other Jurisdictions -- Update

Earlier on this blog, I reported that on February 1, 2008, a New York appeals court held in Martinez v. County of Monroe that same-sex marriages that are valid in the jursidiction where performed are entitled to recognition in New York.

The court's decision is finally being implemented as reported in Jeremy W. Peters, New York to Back Same-Sex Unions From Elsewhere, NY Times, May 29, 2008:

Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions * * *.

In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses. * * *

Legal experts said Mr. Paterson’s decision would make New York the only state that did not itself allow gay marriage but fully recognized same-sex unions entered into elsewhere.