Suit seeks to overturn same-sex marriage

ALBANY -- Same-sex-marriage opponents filed a lawsuit Monday to overturn the state law -- just one day after same-sex weddings were celebrated around the state for the first time.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, which represents evangelical ministers, claimed in the lawsuit that the State Senate violated state laws and its own procedures when it forced through the same-sex marriage legislation in the final act of the 2011 regular session. The group is being represented by a Lynchburg, Va.-based Christian legal group affiliated with the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.

The lawsuit contends the Senate gagged lawmakers who opposed the legislation from speaking, violated open meetings laws and didn't require the bill to go through the proper committees.

"Constitutional liberties were violated," said the Rev. Jason McGuire, the group's executive director and one of three individual plaintiffs on the lawsuit. "Today, we are asking the court to intervene in its rightful role as the check and balance on an out-of-control state Legislature."

The suit asks the court to nullify the new law and void any marriages conducted to date. It was filed in Livingston County, where McGuire resides.

An aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who spearheaded the effort to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, called the lawsuit baseless. "The plaintiffs lack a basic understanding of the laws of the state of New York," said Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.

Observers pointed out that the lawsuit takes issue with practices that the courts have previously upheld, such as a governor's ability to waive the ordinary three-day waiting period on voting for legislation by issuing a "message of necessity."

A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) declined to comment.

The Senate passed the legislation in a dramatic 33-29 vote on June 24 after restricted debate. Lt. Gov. Robert J. Duffy allowed several senators who supported the bill to speak at length, but repeatedly stifled a vocal opponent, Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx).