ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A Christian legal organization said Friday it will sue to stop New York Gov. David Paterson's directive to provide rights and benefits to gay couples legally married elsewhere that are now provided to heterosexual married couples.
The group, the Alliance Defense Fund based in Arizona, is working with New York legislators on the case that in part will accuse Paterson of violating the separation of powers in his directive this week.
The group of lawyers intervene in gay marriage and religious freedom cases including those involving abortion and what it calls traditional family values. The group already has pending lawsuits against New York state government over earlier attempts to extend marriage rights to gay couples.
``We're definitely filing,'' said Austin R. Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. He said the suit will be filed next week in New York City.
``Almost all are dealing with the exact same issue and that's whether it is the prerogative of the executive branch to define marriage or the prerogative of the people,'' he said.
Even though gay marriage is unconstitutional in New York, Paterson said New York must recognize marriage legally performed in Massachusetts, Canada and other states that allow gay marriages. Paterson, who has long supported gay marriage, said failure to recognize other states' and countries' laws granting gay marriages would leave New York open to discrimination lawsuits.
New York, however, has not yet been sued for failing to provide marriage-based benefits to gay couples, said Paterson spokeswoman Erin Duggan.
She said the administration is confident its directive will stand a legal challenge. She said the directive, to make sure gays receive as many as 1,300 rights and benefits afforded to heterosexual married couples, is supported by consistent court decisions.
``They would be suing us for following what the court has ruled,'' she said, saying she unsure what tactic a lawsuit would take.
But the Alliance Defense Fund's Austin R. Nimocks, a senior legal counsel, said the Paterson administration erred in taking action based on a narrow decision by a midlevel appellate court that applied only to Monroe County as well as lower court decisions.
The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, has ruled New York's constitution doesn't recognize gay marriage and the Legislature would have to act to change that.
``What the governor did is just another example of a single government official overstepping their authority and violating the principles of separation of powers,'' Nimocks said. ``By doing that, and not respecting the role of the Legislature, you are trampling on the separation of powers.''
He said New York legislators he declined to name are involved in the suit, but he wouldn't say if legislators were his firm's clients.
Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno has criticized the Democrat's decision, made public Wednesday night, as violating the separation of powers. Bruno says Paterson never involved or even consulted the Legislature in making the directive, based on the Feb. 1 appellate decision.
In that case, one of the state's appellate divisions found that a woman employee of Monroe County Community College who married a woman legally in Canada was entitled to county-paid health benefits.
Monroe County filed an appeal to the state's highest court, but it was rejected on technical grounds and could be filed again.
The decision applies only to Monroe County, but Duggan said other counties will probably recognize that they could lose lawsuits if they were sued on the same grounds. It is this midlevel decision on what Paterson is relying on to order all state benefits to be provided to legally married couples regardless of their sexual orientation.
The Alliance Defense Fund finds that legal basis weak, Nimocks said.
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