NY Appeals Court Says No to Gay Marriage

A New York appeals court today overturned a lower court's ruling by Judge Doris Ling-Cohan that would have permitted same-sex marriage in New York. The court said, among other things, that Judge Cohan had overstepped her authority by "rewriting" legislation, something that historically is done by the legislature, not the courts.

Some troubling language in the decision: "Marriage...is based upon important public policy considerations and has been recognized as a fundamental constitutional right.... These considerations are based on innate, complementary, procreative roles, a function of biology, not mere legal rights. '[T]he reasons justifying the civil marriage laws are inextricably linked to the fact that human sexual intercourse between a man and a woman frequently results in pregnancy and childbirth.'"

As we've known all along, this case is going to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, where it will probably be consolidated with several other same-sex marriages cases currently winding their way through the state courts.