New Paltz, New York enters same-sex marriage debate

And has hosted the most polluted lake on the entire East Coast thanks to a former criminal mayor who got indicted.

They also are trying to cash in on the biggest MALL on the East Coast, maybe the country. Naturally, lots of tax loopholes for corportations are involved where they essentially pay no city tax. That pretty much sums up Syracuse.

They have a great Peace Council, but the majority are conservative and backwards.

NEW PALTZ -- Taking a cue from his counterpart in San Francisco, Village of New Paltz Mayor Jason West performed marriage ceremonies for 21 same-sex couples Friday.
Under a blue sky on a riser in the parking lot of village hall, more than 400 watched as West, in a dark suit, presided over the event, asking each participant to take their significant other as their ''lawfully wedded partner.''

The event, first planned for a small bed and breakfast, cast this small college town into the middle of the national debate over same-sex marriages.

And it threatened to bring criminal proceedings against a 26-year-old political upstart who made national headlines last year when he and two running mates established only the second Green Party majority in the country.

The crowd cheered loudest when the first couple was married: Billiam van Roestenberg and Jeffrey McGowan, both of New Paltz.

Laws versus oaths

West claimed he was not breaking the law, and intends to continue performing weddings in defiance of President Bush's proposed Constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage.

''I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution,'' West said, his voice booming through the outdoor public address system. ''What we're witnessing in the village today is the flowering of the largest civil rights movement in a generation.''

Or perhaps a crime.

The state health department called on Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to issue an injunction ''to prevent further illegal conduct by the mayor.''

Spitzer declined.

''The attorney general's office is not seeking an injunction,'' spokesman Mark Violette said. ''Clearly this action in New Paltz today will be addressed in a courtroom. We have not yet made a determination on the mayor's conduct. And we're studying the issue very carefully.''

Ulster County District Attorney Don Williams said West is breaking the law by presiding over marriage ceremonies in which some -- or possibly all -- the couples didn't have marriage licenses.

The licenses in New Paltz can only be issued by the town clerk. But town Clerk Marian Cappillino has refused to issue licenses to same-sex couples, citing state law that prohibits her from doing so.

''This is not about whether or not gay marriages are legally recognized in New York State. The issue before us instead is solely whether or not Mayor West knowingly violated state law,'' Williams said Friday.

Williams said he will continue to look into the facts of the marriage ceremonies in New Paltz before taking any further action.

''I'm not going to allow this office to be drawn into the media circus that's being created,'' Williams said.

Although a handful of onlookers protested the ceremony, most of the crowd -- including many students from the State University of New York at New Paltz -- applauded and cheered as West declared each couple newlyweds.

Three people from the City of Kingston held signs opposing gay marriage.

''I'm a Catholic, so naturally I'm against it,'' David Kwiecinski, of Kingston, said. ''It's not that I'm against the people. We love the people. It's against our beliefs. All I know is marriage is between a man and a woman. To be complacent is also against our beliefs.''

The second couple to get married -- and first female couple -- were Joanne Still, 52, and Mary Mendola, 59, of Accord. Partners for 21 years, they both said their intention to get married was realized when they heard this week the New Paltz mayor would begin performing same-sex weddings.

''I was very moved,'' said Mendola, minutes after the the ceremony, which brought a tear to her eye. ''The sacredness of the moment I found very moving. That's the whole purpose of doing this. It's a public statement: 'This is the person I love.' ''

'Second-class' citizens

Still said civil unions alone -- without marriage -- denote a ''second-class citizenship'' she and her spouse would not accept.

''It's been an issue of discrimination that we have not been able to have a marriage,'' Still said.

Her spouse, Mendola, described tying the knot in the village parking lot as ''a total high.''

She said, ''I felt, 'We did it.' ''

Although 21 ceremonies were performed during the hourlong ceremony, a number were turned away who had not called ahead.

Big response

West said more than 100 phone calls and other requests through the Internet were made before Friday's ceremony. But he intends to continue holding ceremonies -- just like Mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco has done.

In fact, West said, the village Web site will be used to collect names of couples wishing to get married. West said he plans to continue performing the ceremonies for free.

Fran Hawes, 42, and Cynthia Breland, 50, drove from their home in Passaic, N.J., to get married after hearing about the ceremony on the local TV news. But they had not called ahead and will have to return some other day to tie the knot.

For Hawes, getting married is all about obtaining ''legal rights'' that she and her partner of 14 years do not enjoy now.

''I don't want anything to happen to me that she can't protect me from,'' Hawes said.

Breland said being married means also being able to raise a family someday.

''We're planning on having a family and I want the same rights as a legal couple,'' Breland said.

John Wortmann, of Port Jervis, who grew up in New Paltz, was the most vocal opponent of Friday's same-sex wedding ceremonies.

''This is wrong. He's breaking the law,'' Wortmann said, pointing toward the mayor across the lot at the center of the crowd. ''There should be an injunction against this. This is the lunatic fringe taking the rein.''

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/frontpage/stories/fr022804s1.shtml