Gay Marriage Charges Renewed

A judge reinstated criminal charges Wednesday against a small-town mayor who got in trouble for marrying gay couples last year.

The case was resurrected on the same day lawmakers in at least three states took up constitutional bans on gay marriage.

In Kansas, legislators placed a proposed ban on the April 5 ballot. A similar proposal failed in Idaho, but one was approved by a House committee in South Dakota.

The rush to write gay marriage bans into state constitutions is part of a heated debate that New Paltz Mayor Jason West helped ignite in February, when he married about two dozen same-sex couples.

West, 27, was quickly hit with 24 misdemeanor charges.

But the charges were later dismissed by a town court judge who said there were constitutional problems in banning gay marriage.

Ulster County Court Judge J. Michael Bruhn brought back the charges Wednesday, saying public officials cannot pick and choose which laws to obey. He said the case was not about the constitutionality of gay marriage but whether West lived up to his oath to uphold the law.

The case will go to trial barring a settlement or a successful appeal by West’s lawyers.

Attorney Joshua Rosenkranz said no decision had been made yet on whether to appeal but added, “I know that Jason West is champing at the bit to face a jury of his peers.”

West faces fines and up to a year in jail if convicted on the misdemeanor counts of solemnizing marriages without a license.

West has maintained that he was upholding the couples’ constitutional rights -- and thus his oath of office -- by allowing them to wed.

“If I told the gay couples ... ‘No, I can’t marry you because you’re gay,’ I’d be violating the state constitution, and I’d be violating my oath of office,” West said.

Ulster County Dist. Atty. Donald Williams said he was pleased that the judge recognized his prosecution was not about gay marriage but targeted “a public official who made a conscious decision to put himself above the law.”

The charges against West are part of a series of legal actions since the gay marriage issue flared a year ago. West was the nation’s second public official to marry same-sex couples, following San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Thirteen states adopted constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage last year.