NY mayor faces renewed criminal charges over same-sex marriages News
NY mayor faces renewed criminal charges over same-sex marriages

[JURIST] Ulster County Court Judge J. Michael Bruhn reinstated 24 criminal misdemeanor charges against New Paltz Village [official website] Mayor Jason West late Wednesday for marrying 24 gay couples in February 2004. West was charged with the misdemeanor counts last year, but the charges were dropped when a town court judge ruled that there were constitutional problems with banning gay marriage. In reinstating the charges, Judge Bruhn said the issue was not the constitutionality of gay marriage, but instead whether West upheld the law per his oath of office. West, who could face fines and a year in jail if found guilty, has argued he was upholding his oath of office by protecting the constitutional rights of the couples he married. AP has more.

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THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.