NEW YORK, NY July 07, 2006 —Supporters of gay marriage rallied last night at the site of the historic Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village. The protest came after the state high court ruled that the New York constitution does not give same-sex couples the right to marry. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: Both sides agreed that the state’s Domestic Relations Law limits marriage to opposite-sex couples. The plaintiffs argued that definition violates the constitutional right to due process and equal protection. By a margin of 4-to-2, the Court of Appeals disagreed. Plaintiffs Attorney Susan Sommer, from the Lamda Legal Defense Fund, said the court had turned its back on the state’s same-sex couples – more than 45,000, according to the last census.

SOMMER: The majority held that there is no violation of our state’s constitution when loving, committed same-sex families are denied the same right to marry and are denied equality under the law.

REPORTER: The justices’ lead opinion stated that those who wrote New York’s Domestic Relations law almost a century ago “could rationally think” that opposite-sex marriage had greater benefits for children than same-sex marriage. Justice Robert Smith said the plaintiffs had not persuaded the majority that the exclusion of gays from the institution of marriage was the result of “prejudice, ignorance or bigotry.” He wrote that it’s up to the Legislature, not the judiciary, to change the law – an opinion shared by Kiera McCaffrey of the Catholic League:

MCCAFFREY: The proper channel for the idea of gay marriage is the legislature and the court made the right decision by kicking it back and saying this is something that is up to the people and we are not going to impose our ideological predilections on them.

REPORTER: Gay marriage supporters pledged to take their fight to the other branches of government. Today Senate majority leader Joe Bruno announced his opposition to gay marriage –though in the past he has expressed some sympathy for the civil rights of gay couples. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver declined to take a position on the ruling and said he would need to consult his fellow Democrats. Governor Pataki made it clear that the cause of gay marriage would not advance in the final months of his administration. He was asked what would happen if the legislature passed a gay marriage bill and presented it to him to sign.

PATAKI: Well, first I don't think they will, but if they did I would not.

REPORTER: Albany, however, is in flux. Lee Miringoff from Marist University expects gay marriage will become a major issue between now and the fall elections for both the governor and legislature.

MIRINGOFF: It’s not a pocketbook issue. It doesn’t do for voters what taxes and jobs and education and healthcare does. But it’s a very important concern, because voters have positions on these issues. There’s not gonna be a lot of room for people to hide here.

REPORTER: Democratic front-runner Eliot Spitzer has said he supports legalizing gay marriage – though he represented the governor in the court appeals against it. Mayor Bloomberg has taken the same position, saying he opposed a law-change coming from the judiciary but would lobby for one in the legislature. Yesterday, he was less committal.

BLOOMBERG: I’ve talked to some people in the gay community that wanted to get the laws changed, and we’ve started to work on a strategy but it’ll eventually just mean trying to convince the people in the legislature that they should change the law and if they do that’s great and if they don’t then that’s what it will be but as the governor said the Courts have said clearly it is up to the legislature and that’s where we should go.

REPORTER: At a news conference after the ruling, Gay marriage activists pledged to hold Bloomberg and Spitzer to their word. They were angry, but also sad. Curtis Woolbright, one of the plaintiffs, said if he gets sick, he wants his partner to be able to come to the hospital and make medical decisions.

WOOLBRIGHT: We simply want what everyone else can get for a $35 money order at the clerk’s office. Very simple. And we live here in NY. We don’t want to go to Canada or Massachusetts or anywhere else to have something that won’t be recognized here. We live here. We pay taxes here. We work here. We pay our taxes here. We want to be accepted and have our wedding here in our community.

REPORTER: gay couples who are parents say the prohibition against marriage delegitimizes their families. Lauren Abrams and Donna Freeman-Tweed say the ruling has motivated them to work on changing the law – not just for themselves but for their two young sons.

ABRAMS.FREEMAN-TWEED: It means their parents are being discriminated against, that their parents are not as good and as worthy as other people, and it really saddens me that we’re different and somehow less…somehow less than other families.

REPORTER: There is deep sympathy among voters for the cause of same-sex marriage – but there is also strong opposition. Surveys so far have been conflicting. A poll commissioned by a leading gay rights group found 53% of the state’s likely voters support same-sex marriage, and 38% oppose it. Others find a much closer split, with scales tipping much more heavily against when people are asked about “gay marriage,” instead of “civil unions.”