How Ithaca played crucial role in gay marriage fight
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ITHACA, N.Y. — The History Center in Tompkins County has embarked on an
exploration of Ithaca’s unique role in the path to nationwide marriage
equality.
The “Ithaca 50” lawsuit, in which 25 local same-sex couples sued the city and
the state, is among the landmark events documented by the Center. Key
witnesses of the lawsuit, including attorneys and the lead plaintiff, have
3. shared perspectives ranging from the lawsuit’s origins to its continued
effects on their lives today.
The Lawyer’s Point of View
The City of Ithaca was one of the first municipalities in 1984 to pass a law
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Local attorney
Mariette Geldenhuys recalled how she and other LGBT activists decided that
if the City could do it, so could Tompkins County. This law, known as “Local
Law C,” became a major topic of contention in the community, and failed its
first attempt at passage, in July 1991.
“So we all rallied and on a second vote in December 1991 passed in a full high
school cafeteria patrolled by the Sheriff’s deputies who were walking up and
down the aisle between the ‘pro’ and the ‘con’ section,” Geldenhuys said.
(http://ithacavoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-30-at-
4. 7.55.33-AM.png)
The Rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBT rights. Courtesy of Wikimedia
But the real turning point was 2004, when two mayors, San Francisco’s Gavin
Newsom and New Paltz’s Jason West, became the first in the country to issue
marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It is in this context that Ithaca played
a crucial role with the famous ‘Ithaca 50’ lawsuit.
Geldenhuys was a pro bono attorney representing the 25 couples who were
plaintiffs in the case, also known as Seymour v. Holkomb, which reflected the
growing momentum and as well as ongoing obstacles to marriage equality.
“This was a couple of years after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling for
marriage rights and we were very hopeful that as it went with Massachusetts
so it would go with us, but no, didn’t happen that way,” Geldenhuys said.
The Mayor’s Point of View
As a mayor in a state where gay marriage was not legal in 2004, Carolyn
Peterson faced a rising local controversy and became the unlikely originator
of the Ithaca 50 lawsuit.
“It’s 2004, and I’ve been mayor just a few weeks, and there’s a kind of tsunami
coming, with Gavin Newsom performing weddings in San Francisco and then
Jason West in New Paltz doing the same thing,” Peterson said.
See related: 20 years ago, Ithaca was in national spotlight for radical idea:
Supporting gay marriage (http://ithacavoice.com/2015/06/20-years-ago-
ithaca-was-in-national-spotlight-for-radical-idea-supporting-gay-marriage/)
5. (http://ithacavoice.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-
10-30-at-7.58.55-AM.png)
Former Mayor Peterson
With emails and phone calls
coming in rapidly, Peterson
needed to make a decision.
She could not issue marriage
licenses because the New York
State Department of Health
was not going to sign up off on
them. So after much
discussion, Peterson and the
City Attorney, Martin Luster,
decided to adopt a unique
approach.
CONTENT CONTINUED BELOW
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ANNOUNCEMENT
Peterson and Luster announced at a press conference in March that the City
was going to accept the same-sex couples’ marriage applications, bundle
them together and send them to the State Department of Health in Albany,
6. where they would be rejected, paving the way for an unusual strategy.
“This put us and the couples in the position to sue the City and the State of
New York,” Peterson said. This became the ‘Ithaca 50’ lawsuit, which was
unique because the City of Ithaca joined the plaintiffs in the claim that the
marriage prohibition was unconstitutional.
The Lead PlaintiK’s Point Of View
In 2004, Jason Hungerford and his now-husband, Jason Seymour, were
newcomers to Ithaca. They decided to go to City Hall and see what the new
mayor had to say about marriage equality, and were impressed by Peterson’s
creative approach.
A week later, they attended a town hall meeting organized by the Ithaca
LGBT Task Force, and offered to help gather plaintiffs for the case.
“We volunteered to quickly put together a website form so that people could
submit their names online if they wanted to participate,” Hungerford said.
As dedicated as the couple was to the cause, they did not expect to see
Seymour’s name go down in history affixed to the case.
“We handed over the names to the pro bono attorneys, including Mariette , in
the order that people submitted them online. Our names were first because
we built the form and tested it So that's how the case became known as
Seymour v. Holcomb,” Hungerford said.
Though the case was eventually defeated in the Court of Appeals two years
later, Hungerford said one of his fondest memories was being in court and
“feeling very proud that symbolically, realistically and physically there was
the City on side” on the long road to marriage equality.
7. What Is Left to Be Done: The Struggle Evolves
In the years that followed, Hungerford joined the board of directors of the
Ithaca LGBT Task Force. Geldenhuys was appointed to the New York State
Bar Association’s Committee on LGBT People and Law and lobbied
intensively for the marriage equality bill, which was defeated in the state
senate in 2010, before finally passing in June 2011.
“Change didn't just happen, it took people to push for that change,”
Hungerford said.
Much remains to be done, including the implementation of marriage equality
legislation, along with other key challenges facing the LGBT community, such
as discrimination against transgender people, suicide and homelessness
among LGBT youth, employment and housing discrimination and barriers to
healthcare.
“We certainly deserve the joy of the celebration for the civil rights advance,
but we need to really stay engaged and keep at this,” Geldenhuys said.
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