New York’s Court of Appeals refused to hear a challenge by a conservative group trying to overturn the state’s gay marriage law, stopping the only major legal threat to same sex weddings in the state, according to the New York Times.
The group, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, had accused the State Senate of violating the state’s Open Meetings Law in its deliberations before it voted last year to allow gays and lesbians to marry.
Arguing that two closed-door meetings between the Senate’s Republican majority – one with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the other with Gov. Andrew Cuomo – should have been held in public, the group asked for the marriage law to be overturned.
Rev. Jason McGuire, the executive director of the group, was disappointed by the court’s decision, but said his group will now work to defeat legislators who voted for the Marriage Equality Act.
Gov. Cuomo, who has supported same-sex marriage, was pleased by the ruling.
“With the court’s decision, same-sex couples no longer have to worry that their right to marry could be legally challenged in this state,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement on Tuesday, according to the Times. “The freedom to marry in this state is secure for generations to come.”
Since the law took effect in July 2011, more than 10,000 same-sex couples have been issued marriage licenses in the state.
