NY Gay Marriage Goes to High Court

NEW YORK, NY -- New York's highest court will hear arguments today on behalf of 45 same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by the state.

Attorneys for five same-sex couples will try to convince the New York State Court of Appeals that the city should allow same-sex couples to marry because the state constitution guarantees "equality, liberty and privacy for all New Yorkers."

Todays session is the last step before the court makes the ultimate judicial decision on the legality of gay marriage in New York.

The New York City couples were denied marriage licenses in 2004 and quickly took their case to the courts. In February, a midlevel court upheld the state's marriage law as constitutional.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has expressed support of gay marriage, although he is required to fight the challenges in court due to existing laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

The mayor has said that he will work to legalize gay marriages, regardless of the State Court's ruling, and that he is "firmly opposed" to a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages.

"The U.S. Constitution should be something that unites, rather than divides Americans. I do not believe that government should be in the business of telling people who they can and can't marry."

Only the state of Massachusetts allows couples of the same sex to marry, although Vermont permit civil unions which are the equivalent to marriage in all but name. Thirty-nine states have some sort of ban on gays marrying.