[JURIST] New York Governor David Paterson [official profile] has ordered all state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive] from other states as legal marriages for purposes of New York law. The instructions highlighted in Thursday media reports came in a May 14 memo [PDF text] circulated by the governor's legal counsel David Nocenti [official profile], which directed state agencies to afford "full faith and credit to same-sex marriages" and indicated that agencies which fail to do so could be subject to liability. Agencies were instructed to report back to Nocenti by June 30 with steps taken to implement recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. AP has more. The New York Times has local coverage.

The New York memo notes a February decision by an intermediate New York appellate court in Martinez v. County of Monroe [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] holding that legal same-sex marriages performed outside the state are entitled to recognition in New York. The memo was dated one day before the California Supreme Court overturned a state ban on same-sex marriage in In re Marriage Cases [opinion, PDF; JURIST report].