The anti-gay marriage group New Yorkers
for Constitutional Freedoms on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to
overturn New York's law legalizing gay marriage in the state.
On Sunday, gay
couples helped break a one-day marriage record in New York City
as New York became the sixth – and most populous – state to allow
gay and lesbian couples to marry.
According to the New York Daily
News, the group claims that the law's adoption was illegal.
The New York Senate “violated the
state's Open Meeting Law by closing off the Senate galleries and
lobby; and by holding closed door meetings with Mayor [Michael]
Bloomberg and others who backed the law,” the
paper reported.
The group, which is helmed by Rev.
Jason J. McGuire, also claims that Governor Andrew Cuomo illegally
ignored a three-day waiting period and accuses proponents of the law,
including Bloomberg, of bribing lawmakers for their votes.
“It is unfortunate that state
senators chose to protect their personal interests, rather than the
people they were elected to represent,” McGuire said in a
statement. “Some of the players may have changed, but it looks
like same old Albany game. It is time the curtain be pulled back and
the disinfecting light of good government shine upon the Cuomo
Administration and our State Legislature.”
A spokesman for Cuomo called the
lawsuit “without merit.”
“The plaintiffs lack a basic
understanding of the laws of the state of New York,” Cuomo
spokesman Josh Vlasto said. “This suit is without merit.”
The legal challenge, which was filed in
New York Supreme Court in Livingston County, names McGuire, New
Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms senior lobbyist Rev. Duane R.
Motley, and Nathaniel S. Leiter, executive director of Torah Jews for
Decency, as plaintiffs.