Times Herald Record

July 13, 2004

Judge dismisses charges against ministers who married gay couples

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. - A judge has dismissed charges against two Unitarian Universalist ministers for marrying gay couples without a license.

In a ruling released Tuesday, New Paltz Town Justice Judith Reichler threw out charges against the Revs. Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey, the women's attorney Robert Gottlieb said.

"Every rationale the government has put forward, she has shot down," Gottlieb said. "It's a wonderful, well-reasoned, unbelievable opinion."

Greenleaf and Sangrey, both in their 60s, were charged in March with solemnizing marriages for 13 same-sex couples without a license in the Hudson Valley village of New Paltz.

The two women appeared to be the first clergy in the nation to be prosecuted for marrying gay couples, according to advocates.

A spokesman for the Ulster County district attorney's office did not immediately return a call for comment.

Last month, another judge dismissed the same criminal charges against New Paltz Mayor Jason West, saying the state failed to show it has a legitimate interest in banning same-sex weddings.

New Paltz Town Court Justice Jonathan Katz also ruled that prosecutors failed to prove the law that West was charged with violating was constitutional.

State officials, including Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Gov. George Pataki, have said same-sex ceremonies violate state law.