Attorney Applauds Judge's Ruling Against Lawless NY Mayor

by Allie Martin and Bill Fancher
June 9, 2004

(AgapePress) - The mayor of New Paltz, New York has been ordered by a county Supreme Court judge to stop illegally solemnizing same-sex weddings.

Back in February, Jason West -- the part-time mayor of New Paltz, New York -- announced he would solemnize marriages of same-sex couples. Since then, he has continued the practice, despite being indicted for his actions.

However, Ulster County Supreme Court Judge E. Michael Kavanagh has now issued a permanent injunction ordering Mayor West to stop the practice. The injunction was issued in a lawsuit filed by Liberty Counsel on behalf of a member of the New Paltz Board of Trustees.

On February 27, West solemnized the "marriages" of 25 homosexual couples. He then created an "Affidavit of Marriage" and a "Contract of Marriage," which he posted on the Internet and claimed he was issuing the documents "in lieu of a Certificate of Marriage" since the town clerk refused to issue a license. The mayor, a member of the Green Party, thought it "funny" that he had provoked such a controversy.

Apparently Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams did not find the situation humorous. On March 2 the D.A. charged West with a 19-count indictment for illegally solemnizing same-sex marriages without a license -- a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $50.00 or by up to a year in prison.

Attorney Mat Staver is president of Liberty Counsel. He says knowingly and deliberately disobeying the law, as West has done, is not a game, and "the mayor simply can't pick and choose which laws to obey and which laws to enforce. If that were the case, anarchy would ensue."

Staver represented Robert Hebel, the New Paltz trustee who sued to stop the mayor's illegal practice. Staver welcomes the county Supreme Court's ruling, which he says sends "a very clear message to the other mayors, not only in New York but around the country, that they are not above the law."

Furthermore, the attorney asserts, the New York case communicates to public officials across the nation that they "cannot create their own kingdom," and must abide by the rule of law like every other American citizen.

"All mayors throughout the United States should be on notice. An attempt to disregard the plain law of the land by elected officials should be viewed for what it is -- illegal activity that must be brought to justice," Staver says.

But while the New York court is sending out that strong message, pro-homosexual forces elsewhere, emboldened by the court-ordered legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, are using the courts to act out their defiance of churches and clergy that condemn the homosexual lifestyle. A church in Montana and a bishop in Colorado have already been attacked through legal channels: Activist groups are filing lawsuits challenging their tax-exempt status because of their criticism of the homosexual lifestyle.

Many clergy are particularly concerned that homosexual activists will exploit the issue of same-sex marriage in order to stifle the Church's opposition to their lifestyle. For this reason, several black pastors are aligning themselves with pro-family groups for a united front in defense of a traditional, biblical view of marriage.

Bishop Paul Morton of the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship in New Orleans says he is concerned that activists may succeed in bending the law to their purposes to keep the Church from teaching that homosexuality is "abnormal, unnatural, abhorrent to God, perverted, and sinful." But Morton vows he will never stop preaching the Word of God, despite the efforts of the homosexual community.

"We will probably be required one day, through lawsuits," Morton says, "to either marry same-sex people or suffer the consequence. And I'm here to tell you -- my name is Paul, but I don't want to go to jail like [the Apostle] Paul, so I'm speaking up now to let you know how important we feel this is."

And Talbert Swan, Jr. is a black pastor in Massachusetts who claims he is definitely feeling pressure from the state to acknowledge same-sex marriage. He says he is now required to submit his ordination papers every year and provide a copy of the marriage ceremony he uses in order to be approved.

Swan suggests that these bureaucratic hoops ministers must now jump through are the state officials' way of employing subtle intimidation. "And while they say they will not tell the Church what to do, to threaten to take away my right to marry is, in essence, telling the Church what it has to do," he says.

Another leader who has recognized the attempts of homosexual activists to muzzle the Church is Bishop Leroy Bailey, a black pastor from Bloomfield Connecticut. "They will try to suggest that we are proclaiming hate," he says, "and hopefully they will not try to incarcerate us, because we will take a stand as prophets of the Almighty."

Bailey says he and other faithful ministers will continue to take that stand and will continue to preach what scripture teaches about the homosexual lifestyle and the biblical definition of marriage. "We believe God's word. God's word is absolute. God is in opposition to homosexuality," he says, "and we will preach those texts."