"Marriage" for same-sex couples is now legal in New York -- a ruling one attorney says is final.
Liberty Counsel filed suit after the Senate took the vote and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the bill (see earlier story). Founder Mat Staver tells OneNewsNow the problem is that the vote was taken after closed-door meetings and arm-twisting.
"It is contrary to the state law. It's contrary to the Constitution, which requires open meetings and transparency," the attorney references.
"But this legislature, along with the mayor of New York and the governor of New York, locked out the people, shut off the opportunity for people to speak because they wanted to ramrod this same-sex marriage law through the legislative process before anyone had an opportunity to present their view."
The initial court ruled the law and state constitution had been violated, but two appeals courts overturned that, making homosexual marriage legal in The Empire Statel.
"I believe that the end of the line has come here, not because the law's not on our side, but because of a political agenda," Staver laments.
"It's unfortunate. Now New York has same-sex marriage, and I think what you're going to see is a continuing clash between same-sex marriage and religious freedom and other kinds of views that are contrary to same-sex marriage or same-sex unions."
The issue of same-gender marriage is on the ballot in four states on November 6 -- Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington state.