The Empire State Pride Agenda and the New York City Bar Association released a report today that outlines 1,324 specific legal rights and responsibilities that same-sex couples are denied by being unable to legally marry.
The report can be read here.
According to the group, a research and advocacy group whose mission is to enhance the social welfare and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender New Yorkers, gays are also denied 1,138 federal rights.
"The benefits and duties described in this report range from the profound to the mundane and underscore the extraordinary breadth of marriage-related law in New York State, and how minutely interwoven this body of law is in people’s everyday lives," said Ross Levi, director of public policy and education at the Pride Agenda.
Melissa Mansfield
Rights as referenced in state laws include:
The protection of a married person from being compelled to testify in cost about communications with his or her spouse during marriage.
The enabling of a spouse of a military service member to attend New York community colleges at the same cost as New York residents.
The barring of spouses of convicted criminals from obtaining certain types of licenses, such as a bingo operator’s, or to sell alcoholic beverages.