New York State officials have delayed issuing marriage license for same-gender couples after issuing a marriage license to a man and woman in 2011.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the law into law on Dec. 16, 2011, after Gov.
Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a law that allows people to be married for any reason and without regard to gender.
Cuomo said in his signing statement that his signature “was meant to signal to people that we’re open to them and to the opportunity to be in a committed, loving relationship.”
The governor said at the time that “a woman married to a guy is a man, and that a man married to another man is a woman.”
He later clarified his comments, telling The New York Times that he meant to say that a woman and a man were married “for whatever reason and no consideration of gender.”
The law does not define what the definition of marriage is.
It states only that “it shall be an enduring union, lasting for life.”
It says that the state will not recognize same- gender marriages of “non-furniture,” such as a garage or a building, but it says the department will allow such ceremonies if “reasonable accommodations” are made.
It does not specify how those accommodations must be made.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit challenging the law, said in a statement Monday that Cuomo “canceled marriage licenses for people who are married in the state of New York and in New York City because of the discriminatory law.”
The ACLU also filed a similar lawsuit against the state in March, saying that Cuomo and other officials violated the constitution when they changed the definition.
The two lawsuits were settled in January, but the ACLU and others are seeking a court order to stop the new law.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
