Specifically the court stated, "First, the Legislature could rationally decide that, for the welfare of children, it is more important to promote stability, and to avoid instability, in opposite-sex than in same-sex relationships. ... The Legislature could [also] rationally believe that it is better, other things being equal, for children to grow up with both a mother and a father. Intuition and experience suggest that a child benefits from having before his or her eyes, every day, living models of what both a man and a woman are like."

"The idea that same-sex marriage is even possible is a relatively new one. Until a few decades ago, it was an accepted truth for almost everyone who ever lived, in any society in which marriage existed, that there could be marriages only between participants of different sex. A court should not lightly conclude that everyone who held this belief was irrational, ignorant or bigoted. We do not so conclude."

While Attorney General Eliot Spitzer provided a nominal defense of New York’s marriage law, Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm was instrumental in providing a vigorous defense of marriage. We salute Liberty Counsel. For more information on Liberty Counsel, please go to www.lc.org

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