New York

“We will push on until we bring full marriage equality to New York state.” - New York Gov. David A. Paterson

NY Gov. David Paterson recently addressed the guests of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's [NGLTF] 2008 New York Leadership Awards dinner.

Although lesbian and gay citizens of New York cannot marry, those who marry elsewhere in the world will be supported by the state.

According to The New York Times:

"...the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding marriage recognition rule..."

In the late 1980's, a married doctor in Nassau County, New York donated his sperm to a friend and her female partner.

The man included his name on the child's birth certificate, believing it would give the boy "an identity". The donor orally agreed he would not have any rights or benefits in the child's upbringing. However, he regularly sent money, gifts and cards which were signed "Dad" and "Daddy," and enjoyed regular phone chats with the child.

The donor said he had contact with the child from his birth until 1993, when the mothers and son moved to Oregon.

For a six-month reporting period, the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) found that 82 percent of parents accurately detected the presence of teen cigarette smoking - the parents' reports corresponded with the teens' reports of their own smoking.

Eighty-six percent of parents accurately evaluated the presence of teen alcohol use, and 86 percent accurately reported the presence of teen marijuana use. However, only 72 percent of the parents in the RIA study accurately reported the presence of hard drug use (anything other than pot) by teens.

The former partner of a mother of a child born through donor insemination may have an obligation to pay child support.

According to a complaint - filed in Rockland County, N.Y. - by H.M., the parties lived as a couple for more than five years, beginning in August 1989. H.M. was a stay-at-home mother to E.T.'s children, while her partner completed chiropractic school. The plan was for H.M. to then go to school, and for the couple to have children.

She's a New York state Assemblywoman with a gay son. Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro is one of a few parents who recognized and embraced their child's homosexuality at an early age.

And her son's sexual orientation is common knowledge in Willsboro, a town of about 1,900 residents in northern Essex County. A rainbow flag flies in front of the home that's been in the family since the American Revolution.

The New York State Assembly announced the passage of A2915-B, the Public and Private Umbilical Cord Blood Banking legislation.

The bill passed the NYS Senate on June 19th, and requires the NYS Department of Health to develop an educational program to make the public aware of umbilical cord banking.

Governor Spitzer needs to sign S1265A into law.