My County,Westchester, 1st in NY to recognize gay marriages

from Massachusetts and foreign countries!

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060609/NEWS01/606090320/1006/NEWS
Friday, June 9, 2006
County to recognize legal same-sex unions
Westchester move seen as symbolic


By Keith Eddings
The Journal News


WHITE PLAINS — Westchester County will recognize same-sex marriages performed in states and countries where they are legal, making it the eighth municipality in New York — and the first county — to recognize the same-sex unions, County Executive Andrew Spano said Wednesday.

Spano's executive order will guarantee married gay couples the handful of rights and privileges from county government that heterosexual couples enjoy, including the right to buy family passes to county parks. But the order will be a mostly symbolic act that will not require local towns, villages and cities to recognize the marriages, and it won't provide gay married couples living in the county with new state or federal rights or privileges, such as the right to file joint tax returns or to inherit a partner's Social Security benefits.

Nevertheless, Spano received a standing ovation when he read the executive order at a meeting of local gay groups Wednesday night, and leading gay groups cheered the announcement.

continued at the above link.

person.

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