Good news and bad news from NY

First the bad news, to get it out of the way...

Wrongful-death suit dismissed: gay woman's late partner is ruled not a legal spouse. No marriage equality, the NY Supreme Court ruled, and this is what happens. Equality is not an abstract concept, real lives are affected.

Linda Saegert and Victoria Sarafino lived together for 18 years, owned a house and a business together, and raised two children together. They were married in a ceremony at a Unitarian church in Freeport.

"We did everything that's the criteria for a nuclear family," said Saegert, a Valley Stream resident, adding that the two women even signed the children's report cards together. "We were a couple as well as any husband and wife."

But a State Supreme Court justice in Nassau County does not agree. Acting New York Supreme Court Judge Daniel Palmieri ruled that Saegert does not qualify as the late Sarafino's legal partner or spouse. Palmieri rejected last week Saegert's attempt to seek wrongful-death damages after Sarafino was killed in a car accident in 2003.

Citing previous court decisions, Palmieri ruled that Saegert was not eligible because of existing law that makes "a legal distinction between same-sex partners and heterosexual spouses." He noted that the state Appellate Division has ruled that "a same-sex partner, as executor, has no standing to sue in wrongful death on the partner's own behalf."

Examples like this are what potential allies need to hear about to illustrate why marriage equality matters. Sorry to say, it's not on the radar in all the jousting about religious marriage, and hellfire and brimstone. It's about the legal rights and acknowledgment of our relationships that convey with civil marriage that we currently lack.

And here is the good news...

Eliot Spitzer to back extension of domestic-violence laws to same-sex couples. The gubernatorial candidate also has pledged to legalize marriage for gays and lesbians if the legislature moves to do so (that's a big if). This was announced by his running mate, State Senator David Paterson.

"Fighting domestic violence is a family value," Paterson told a domestic violence forum.

"The person who hits their partner is a coward. The society that tolerates it is just about an accomplice."

The Spitzer-Paterson plan would include a major domestic violence education program to help people get out of abusive family situations, economic help for people trying to start new lives away from violent partners and reducing tuition costs at state schools for domestic-violence survivors.

It is the first time the ticket has discussed the platform plank.