From 365gay.com:
I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that New Paltz is a college town.
I am not Gay, but I can’t believe we live in a world where people, politicians no less, would openly attempt to ban Gay marriages, as if they were some kind of child-molesting mass murdering orgy of filth. This is medieval stuff!
I’m pretty familiar with New Paltz; it’s more 1960’s college town than anything else - they’ve always been pretty open-minded & progressive, which is part of the reason that it’s such a great little town.
Good on New Paltz.
Never heard of them, but it’s on my list sensible cities.
In Old Paltz, on the other hand, you can’t even wear lipstick, or skirts above your ankle . . .
Well, then. That’s a step in the right direction.
Civil disobedience is an interesting approach, but I still think this thing needs to be addressed in the legislature. Otherwise, we’re gonna’ have troubles.
For instance, what happens when these folks check “married, filing jointly” on their tax returns?
Well good for him. Maybe Civil disobedience will start us on the road to some reasonable legislation. (though I think we have to lose dubya first)
I still have a hard time understanding what those who oppose same gender marriage are so afraid of. But that’s what it boils down to…fear. It’s sad really.
Well, this should liven up local politics. Mayor West is essentially in the middle of a war with the rest of the village government. While I don’t doubt he honestly supports gay marriages, I also suspect he’s courting the national publicity he knows will now be focused on him.
If the IRS twigs to the fact that both taxpayers are of the same sex, whatever happens to returns the IRS considers invalid will happen. That would happen even if the legislature of the state of New York unanimously passed a law opening up marriage to same-sex couples. The state government has no power to force the federal government to accept its definition of “married” and the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” would bar a tax return filed by a same-sex married couple.
Thanks, Otto. This entire situation just chews.
Go NY go! 
It really would have to be New Paltz. It’s a rural, upstate college town populated primarily by hippies. I don’t know if this will be popular with the locals or not - I have a friend in school up there, so I’ll ask - but it seems to fit somehow.
Kudos to them. It seems the “activists” I hear so much bitching about are dragging the country forward, kicking and screaming the whole time.
It’s also home to a nice, old resort hotel, not that I’ve seen inside. Closest I’ve ever been was the trail up Mohonk Mountain and watching The Road to Wellville.
My family has a house in New Paltz - belonged to my paternal grandparents; we can see the Mohonk Mountain House tower from the back windows of our house. It’s really quite a beautiful view & it will hopefully continue to be, as long as developers don’t get a foothold in the Shawangunks.
You know, one of my favorite T-shirts is the one that says “I got solemnized in New Paltz.”
The mayor is undeterred by the Dept of Health’s attempt to derail the marriage train. The village is being swamped with requests for marriages; to date over 500 couples have signed up for the waiting list.