UUFP News on Same Sex Marriages
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you can mail your checks to:
New Paltz Equality Initiative
PO Box 383
New Paltz NY 12561
please make checks payable to: New Paltz Equality Initiative
Some History of Local Same Sex Marriages
Important Reminder: If you attend any ceremonies or rallies, please do not engage with any opposing protestors verbally or physically. Let us maintain a positive message of tolerance and support. Isn't that what all this is about?
Our minister, Reverend Kay Greenleaf, and the Reverend Dawn Sangrey officiated at thirteen same-sex wedding services in New Paltz on Saturday, March 6. The ceremony was hosted by the newly formed New Paltz Equality Initiative. Reverend Greenleaf and her partner Pat Sullivan were the first couple married in the ceremony. Congratulations to them!
![[Rev. Kay Greenleaf and Rev. Dawn Sangrey]](imagesnp/npsmall.jpg)
Click here to view more pictures
Reverends Greenleaf and Sangrey were joined in New Paltz on on Saturday, March 13 by Reverend Marion Visel, a Unitarian Universalist minister from Westport, CT. Twenty five more couples were married that day by the three ministers.
![[Roger Yensan and Tom Lemaire with Rev. Greenleaf]](imagesnp/np2a.jpg)
Click for more pictures25 More Marriages Performed:Rev. Kay Greenleaf and five other Unitarian Universalist ministers married 25 couples in New Paltz on Saturday, March 20. Six ministers officiated: Rev. Kay Greenleaf of Poughkeepsie NY, Rev. Charles Blustein Ortman from Montclair NJ, Rev. Barbara Fast from Westport CT, Rev. Debra Haffner also from Westport, Rev. Kathleen Hepler from Lincroft NJ and Rev. Carol Huston of White Plains NY. Three couples from our Poughkeepsie fellowship were wed that week, including Margaret Keefe and Dianne Conine, and Roger Yensan and Tom Lemaire. Congratulations to all of them!
Four ministers, three Unitarian Univeralist and one from the United Church of Christ, performed eleven more wedding ceremonies on Saturday, March 27.
The New Paltz marriages are continuing approximately twice a month. There are at least 12 ministers of several denominations who are taking turns performing the marriage ceremonies. At one point, there was a waiting list of about 1300 couples. Reverend Greenleaf and Reverend Sangrey continue to perform marriages in rotation with the other ministers.
![[Rev. Sangrey and Rev. Greenleaf before the arraignment]](imagesnp/araignsmall.jpg)
Click for more picturesThe Reverends Greenleaf and Sangrey were charged with misdemeanors for the March 6 marriages. They were arraigned on Monday, March 22 in New Paltz town court, and entered pleas of Not Guilty. The maximum sentence is a $500 fine and 1 year in jail. Many thanks to all the supporters who were there! (More than 35 from our Fellowship.) We assembled peacefully in support and warmed our hearts and souls, if not our toes, with some songs including "Spirit of Life", "We are a Gentle, Angry People", and "We Shall Overcome".
You can read Rev. Greenleaf's Statement and Rev. Sangrey's Statement made following the arraignment.
More details and viewpoints
Our National Organization, the UUA, has been supporting Freedom to Marry since 1970. They have our NY happenings featured on a webpage.
Our local newspaper, the Poughkeepsie Journal, has a collection of many articles and photos on this topic. Since they continue to update it with the latest happenings, it's a good place to find both what's new and get a history.
A statement from Paula Greenspan, President of the UUFP Board of Trustees: I would like to express my personal pride at Reverend Kay for taking a public stand on this important issue. I believe strongly in the inherent worth and dignity of all people, and believe that all people have an equal right to marriage's legal benefits.
An interesting viewpoint: Some people feel unsettled about same sex marriage, "I want people to have the same access to the rights I have, but I don't know if I'd call it marriage." "Maybe there is another name." Let me confess something to you - these are thoughts I've had. Of course I wanted everyone to be able to have the same rights, but it gave me an unsettled feeling to call it marriage, I wanted to call it something else. The name of that unsettled feeling is prejudice. Prejudice that was taught to me and to all of you for generations by a society that was afraid of people who were different from the "majority." And so society has sought to control people by denying rights and access to privileges. - Rev. Jennifer O'Quill, Second Unitarian Church of Chicago, in her sermon And Justice For All.
An interesting article suggested by a congregation member - one view on Why the Gay Marriage Ban is Doomed to Fail
You can learn more about Religious Support for Equal Marriage Rights and also find an extensive links section.
For other news of interest to UU Fellowship of Poughkeepsie members and community, please check our News Page.
Rev. Kay Greenleaf: Public Statement for March 22, 2004
It has been amazing to me the groundswell of support for same-gender couples who want to be civilly married in the states and cities and towns where they live and work and pay taxes. All over this country, it’s happening – from coast to coast.
What I am doing feels so small to me and yet people tell me that we are making history and that it makes such a difference in their lives to know that someone is out front leading the charge. Why not me? Why not all of us?
Weddings are either civil or religious. Unitarian Universalists have been doing religious weddings for same-gender couples for 35 years or more. I’ve done thirty or more myself. But the weddings here in New Paltz weddings are civil – they are intended to be recognized by the state as legal and binding. The New York State Constitution is gender neutral on marriage, as is the U.S. Constitution, and on this basis, we consider these marriages legal – and maintain that we have not broken the law. The Ulster County District Attorney sees it differently. He is doing what he thinks is right and we are doing what we think is right. We’re all just doing our jobs. We’ll see what the courts decide.
I don’t know why anyone would want to discriminate against us by refusing to allow us access to the more than 1000 civil rights, responsibilities, and benefits that accrue to people who are civilly married, like the right to make medical decisions for each other, the right to social security benefits, the right to inherit my own house without having to pay inheritance taxes, and hundreds of others rights and benefits that most people take for granted. Pat and I have been together over 17 years, yet we can not get these benefits because we happen to both be women.
For me to risk spending a year in jail and paying a $500. fine is nothing compared to the length of time those of us who are gay or lesbian have been waiting to get our civil rights. I think it’s about time!
©The Rev. Kay Greenleaf
March 22,2004 – New Paltz, New York
Rev. Dawn Sangrey: Public Statement for March 22, 2004
I am grateful to everyone who has come out to support same-sex marriage as a civil right. Your encouragement means so much to Kay and me. I salute the Unitarian Universalist ministers and members of our congregations who bear witness to our belief in freedom, justice, and equality for all people. And I want to congratulate the couples who have come here to New Paltz to get married. Thank you all for showing up.
It has never been my intention to break the law. I have a deep and abiding respect for the law and for those who uphold and enforce it. Our Constitution promises equal protection to all people, black and white, old and young, gay and straight. We are working to fulfill that promise. Kay and I have solemnized civil marriages in New Paltz in the name of Love and of Justice. “Let Justice roll down like waters…” (Amos 5:24)
The right to civil marriage is a legal issue, it is a moral issue, and it is a spiritual issue. God loves us all the same, black and white, old and young, gay and straight, and I believe that marriage between two women or between two men is just as right, just as sacred, just as holy as the marriage between a woman and a man. All weddings are perfect. God doesn’t care who you love.
I hope and pray that the weddings will continue, in every village and town, wherever people who love each other want to promise themselves to each other, until every person in these United States has the equal right to marry before the law.
Copyright 2004
By the Rev. Dawn Sangrey
In New Paltz, New York
March 22, 2004
Directions to New Paltz
Here's a Map and Directions for driving to New Paltz.
The New Paltz Village Hall is at 25 Plattekill Avenue, New Paltz
Directions: Exit the NY Thruway at exit 18 (New Paltz), and turn left after the toll plaza onto Main Street. Continue approximately 2 miles along Main St. to a large intersection, where you will see the public library, a Starbucks, and Arial Books. Turn left; the Village Hall is two blocks further, next to Peace Park.
This page is updated when I hear of more news but is certainly not comprehensive. Notes to the webmaster (see below) will find their way to me if you have news or links to suggest. Last update: June 21, 2004.