Is New York State the next Massachusetts? (tradition, marriage, Article)

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

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Lawyers for Ithaca, N.Y., gay couples present case to judge
Attorneys for 25 Ithaca, N.Y., same-sex couples seeking the right to marry said Friday that the state's opposition to gay marriage is akin to the mentality that once allowed slavery and discrimination against women and minorities. "The basis of the [the state's] opposition is that it goes against tradition. If tradition carried on, we would still have slavery," said Mariette Geldenhuys, one of the attorneys for the same-sex couples, who have been dubbed the "Ithaca 50."

Geldenhuys, in arguments before state supreme court justice Robert Mulvey, also pointed out that the state made it illegal in 2002 to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and also allows same-sex couples to adopt children. "The court has the opportunity and obligation to change the marriage laws to bring them into harmony with the expressed public policy of this state," Geldenhuys said.