It's a huge victory for gay couples fighting for equal rights in New York. The case of Patricia Martinez versus Monroe County was taken to NYS Supreme Court back in 2005. Martinez is an employee of Monroe Community College. She was seeking health care benefits for her partner who she married in Canada in 2004. Friday, a New York appellate court ruled that marriages of same-sex couples entered into outside of New York must be recognized in New York. The case, filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, is the first appellate court decision in the state and the first known decision in the country to hold that a valid same-sex marriage must be recognized.
