ALBANY, N.Y. – The defiant mayor of New Paltz, NY said he would stop – at least temporarily – performing more same-sex marriages, following Friday’s order to place a retraining order on him upon the request of the Florida-based Liberty Councel. The victory came amid the many cheers of pro-family groups across the states, who were working by all means to stop the throng of pro-gay movements that razed through the U.S in recent week.
“The mayor in substance ignores the oath of office that he took to uphold the law,” Justice Bradley said in his ruling, Friday, March 5, in favor of the Liberty Counsel.
The Liberty Counsel, which also filed suit in San Francisco against the rebellious mayor Newsom on February, celebrated the victory earned on Friday on behalf of the New Paltz Board of Trustees member Bob Hebel.
“I am extremely pleased with this ruling,” Liberty Counsel President Mathew Staver said. “Finally, a court used common sense and the clear letter of the law to rein in the mayor who deliberately disobeyed the law. This ruling today is a great victory not only for the rule of law but for the institution of marriage.”
On Wednesday, when West was first charged, he rebelliously vowed to hold more weddings on March 6. However, West, a puppeteer who works as a “part time” lawyer in a small college town, changed face when he heard of the possible charges.
“Stop solemnizing marriages without first being presented with a marriage license issued by a town or city clerk in the form and manner prescribed by the New York State Department of Health,” Judge Bradley ordered.
Bradley continued to say that irreparable harm would follow if West was allowed to continue because he would be setting an “example of a duly elected public official sworn to uphold the laws deciding to obey and/or enforce only those laws that he or she agrees with.”
West also faces a series of misdemeanors in criminal court.
“The implications of this are very clear,” Staver said. “No one else in the state of New York has the authority to on their own issue same-sex marriage licenses. The law in New York says that marriage is one man and one woman.”
Staver said the Liberty Counsel is set to file suit in another county, Multnomah Oregon, on March 8.
