Peradotto, Nicole

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Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law

UB Law Forum Volume 17 Number 1 Fall 2004 Article 26 10-1-2004 Outlaw Speakers Make Legal Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage Concrete Nicole Peradotto Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/ub_law_forum Recommended Citation Peradotto, Nicole (2004) "Outlaw Speakers Make Legal Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage Concrete," UB Law Forum: Vol. 17 : No. 1 , Article 26. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/ub_law_forum/vol17/iss1/26 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Alumni Publications at Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in UB Law Forum by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. For more information, please contact lawscholar@buffalo.edu. Student Events Outlaw speakers make legal debate over same-sex rriarriage concrete "The New York statute doesn't necessan·ty say man orwoman. lt doesn 'tsay anything about love, either. ... What it does say is that there is one required procedure to get married You must declare yourself to be husband and wife. " - Sharijo Reich '86 46 By Nicole Peradotto 0 n March 5, a young Buffa-lo couple drove down-town, made d1eir way to Roo~ 1301 of City Hall and, Like so many love-birds before d1em, applied for a mar-riage license. Their otherw ise mundane reque~t would have been grdnled, roo, were tt not for d1e fact d1at both appU-cants were men. Instead, it escalated into a bona fide merna event. A photo of the two hav-ing an exchange w id1 d1e deputy city clerk - whose first question was "Where's dle fiancee?"- appear~d in TbeBuf(aloNewsand was picked up by ~dler papers, including The Miami H_era!d. They were i.ntetv iewed for ra-dto ~nd TV. Two week c; after their uip to Ctty Hall ~ey were the subjects of a cover .sto:Y 111 a regional weekly . Next to thetr ptclure Lhe headline read: "Lel Them Get Man·ied." The fi~t gay couple to publicly push for a mamage license in Buffalo, David Cantaffa and Anthony Laulette dis-cussed their effons, as well as d1eir newfound stan.ts as advocates for same-sex man·iage, at the 2004 Outlaw Din-ner, held March 31 at d1c I Iyatt Re-gency Hotel. 'The primary reason we d id d,js, and d1e reason we are pushing for ac-cess to marriage, is d1at we love each od1er very much and are committed to a life toged1er," said Cantaffa, a gradu-ate student at dle University at Buffa lo workmg toward his Ph.D. in the sociol-ogy of education. ''Lil<e a heterosexual couple in Lhe same circumstance. we feel we should be afforded dle rights and responsibilities associated w ith marriage." B I. A \VI F 0 R U M Laulette emphasized that applying for the license was never intended as a publicity stunt. ln fact, d1e two men didn't caU to a lett d1e media until they were in d1e lobby of City Hall. It was only then d1at they decided that calling attention to d1eir appeal would help generate a much-needed conversation abou t same-sex marriage in the region. "To be quite honest, w e were some-w hat surprised by d1e immediate re-sponsiveness as well as the continuing coverage our actions have received," Laulette said. "The media have proven to be an invaluable means of establish-ing a public record and drawing local attention to the issue." In the summer of2003, Laulette and Cantaffa celebrated d1eir five-year rela-tionship w id1 a civil union ceremony in Vermont. Recognizing that such a unjon doesn't cany any legal w eight in ew York, d1ey chose to request the maniage license as a test of Buffalo"s anti-disoimination law. Passed in 1999, the law was amended in 2002 to in-dude pro tections for transsexuals and others who desire d1e freedom of gen-der expression. One provision that caught d1e couple's artemio n provides for equality of treatment for people of aU sexual o rientation with regard to "applying for, pa t icip~t~g in o r e~j?Y­ing any benefit and pnvilege adnurus-terecl by New York State.'' 'We felt increasingly energized to act locally, to make a personal , yet public claim for our rights, and to make a sometimes abstracted legal debate con-crete " Cantaffa said. That debate, which has been takjng place across the counuy since the Supreme Court banished anti-sodomy 'We folt increasingly energized to act locallj;, to 1nake a persona4 yet public claim for ow'" rights, and to make a sonwtin'les abstracted legal debate concrete. " -David Cantaffa, left, with Anthony Laulette at the Out/au, Dinner laws from the books last summer, took center stage at Outlaw's eighth annual dinner, sponsored by the Outlaw Com-mirtee of the Progressive Law Society ( PLS) and the UB Lesbian , Gay, Bisex""Lt-al, Trdnsgender Alliance (LGBTA). In addition to Laulette and Cantaffa, speakers included local attorney Shari j o Reich '86, who offered her legal ex-penise and perspective on matters of same-sex adoption and man·iage. "People ask me why New York doesn't allow gay maniage," said Reich, w ho has extensive experience handling legal issues dealing w ith sexual o rienta-Lion and family law. "The ew York statute doe n't necessarily say man or woman. It doesn't say anything about love, eitl1er. There isn't anytl1ing in tl1e statute that talks about love, commit-ment or relationship. "What it does say is d1at d1ere is one required procedure to get manied: You must declare yourself to be husband and wife. And the courts are required to interpret statutes according to their plain meaning - btide means woman; groom means man." However, Reich added, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer "is correct in stating that under the f""LtU fa ith and credit laws ofd1e constitution New York has to recognize valid mar-riages perfo rmed elsewhere- i.e. Mass-achusetts and Ontario. " lkich noted Lhat, in a matter of visi-tation tights, she represents a lesbi~m couple w ho wed in Ontatio. "I refer to my client's patt.ner as her w ife becau e that's how they re~er to each od1er. It"s a little uncomfottable at first, even for me," admitted Reich, who is gay. '·And it"s cettainly uncomlo ttable for the COLilt." Another speaker at the dinner dis-cussed her successful effott to organize a local chapter of Children of Lesbians and Gays Evetywhere (COLAGE). F A L L Cathy Mack told attendees that she was motivated to statt d1e group two years ago, after having a heatt-to-heart dis-cussion widl her daughter about her sexual orientation. "Ptior to that, she knew of my rela-tionship w itl1 my pattner, but when I put a title to it- tl1at we were lesbians-all tl1is fear conjured up in her,·· Mack remembered. "\ Xfhat are her friends go-ing to dlink? Is she going to be ostra-cized ::1t school?" Even though Mack had hosted sev-eral picnics at which lesbian parents and d1eir children were guests, she said her daughter never re<tlized tl1at d1ese kids had gay parents, too. Mack remembered hearing of a San Francisco-based organization aimed at suppotting and empowering young-sters with gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgencler parents. When she searched for a local chapter, she didn't find one closer than Utica, .Y. So in September of 2002, she and several otl1ers began organizing a chapter on behalf of tl1eir kids. Today, the local COLAGE chapter includes tl1ree facilitated groups geared toward children of different ages. "We now have esrablished ourselves in tl1e community and are looking forward to continuing to grow," Mack said. I n the future "COLAGE could be much more d1an a' social group, as it is nm~," she . added. "lt could address any of d1e chil-dren's issues and needs !J1<11 are put for-warcL"' 47 

Outlaw Speakers Make Legal Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage Concrete

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Outlaw Speakers Make Legal Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage Concrete

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