The Daily Q: How many same-sex marriages in towns where clerks resigned?

Posted May 10, 2012 By Alexander Hotz

Today’s question, in honor of President Obama’s public stand in support of gay marriage, follows up on the protests last year that greeted New York State’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

Shortly after the state legalized same-sex marriage, three town clerks in New York – Rosemary Centi from Guilderland,, Laura Fotusky from Barker, and Ruth Sheldon from Granby – resigned their posts, each citing religious objections to approving same-sex unions as their reason for leaving. So we ask today: How many same-sex marriages have taken place in Guilderland, Barker and Granby?

If you have information or insight to share, write us, tweet @thenyworld or comment below.

What we found

First the happy news: Outside New York City, 2,417 same-sex couples have been married in New York State since the marriage equality law took effect in July 2011, out of 35,169 marriage licenses issued, according to the New York State Health Department.

But in the towns where clerks resigned, we could only find one lonely same-sex couple that bravely applied for the license the former clerks preferred to deny them. They picked up their license in Granby, a town of about 7,000.

In Barker, no one has applied for a marriage certificate. Guilderland’s new town clerk is carrying on the office’s tradition of resistance: she refused to give out any information without a freedom of information request, which The New York World filed today.

Update 5/11/12: Guilderland reports that six same-sex couples have filed for marriage with their town clerk, out of 177 licenses issued since last July.

The New York World is published under Creative Commons' BY-ND 3.0 license. Unless otherwise noted, you are welcome to reprint The New York World's reporting. Except by prior arrangement, the following guidelines apply:

Credit The New York World, preferably by appending “The New York World” to the bylines already on the stories. Bylines must remain in the stories.
Do not edit stories, except to reflect relative changes in time or location (eg. “Yesterday, following months of uncertainty, Governor Cuomo...” may be changed to begin “In January,” or “Early this year”)
You may edit stories to accommodate style variations or to expand acronyms (eg. “TWU Local 100” may be written “Transport Workers Union Local 100”)

Stories reprinted online must:

include a link to the original story on http://www.thenewyorkworld.com
retain all links included in our original reporting
Retain in republished HTML a simple tracking code, provided in the body of each story as published on The New York World website.
include a syndication source tag directing search engines to the original story in The New York World
Do not republish The New York World wholesale or automatically
Contact our editor with any questions about this policy or to make arrangements to reprint The New York World stories under other terms.
This reprint policy is subject to change.

<h1>The Daily Q: How many same-sex marriages in towns where clerks resigned?</h1><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dailyQ2-01.jpg');" href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dailyQ2-01.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2600" title="dailyQ2-01" src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dailyQ2-01.jpg" alt="" width="105" height="105" /></a>Today’s question, in honor of President Obama’s public stand in support of gay marriage, follows up on the protests last year that greeted New York State’s legalization of same-sex marriage.
Shortly after the state legalized same-sex marriage, three town clerks in New York – Rosemary Centi from Guilderland,, Laura Fotusky from Barker, and Ruth Sheldon from Granby – resigned their posts, each citing religious objections to approving same-sex unions as their reason for leaving. So we ask today: How many same-sex marriages have taken place in Guilderland, Barker and Granby?
If you have information or insight to share, <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/mailto/nyworld@thenewyorkworld.com');" href="mailto:nyworld@thenewyorkworld.com">write us</a>, tweet @thenyworld or comment below.
What we found
First the happy news: Outside New York City, 2,417 same-sex couples have been married in New York State since the marriage equality law took effect in July 2011, out of 35,169 marriage licenses issued, according to the New York State Health Department.
But in the towns where clerks resigned, we could only find one lonely same-sex couple that bravely applied for the license the former clerks preferred to deny them. They picked up their license in Granby, a town of about 7,000.
In Barker, no one has applied for a marriage certificate. Guilderland’s new town clerk is carrying on the office’s tradition of resistance: she refused to give out any information without a freedom of information request, which The New York World filed today.
Update 5/11/12: Guilderland reports that six same-sex couples have filed for marriage with their town clerk, out of 177 licenses issued since last July.

Increasing number of New York school children skipping vaccinations

More than 22,000 medical and religious exemptions were granted to students for the 2013-14 school year, up 27 percent from 2010-11, according to the state Health Department. Public and private enrollment over the same period remained largely flat.

New data provides first detailed look at military gear held by New York law enforcement agencies

Over the past several years, more than 120 law enforcement agencies across the state, from the NYPD to Tuckahoe, have obtained military-grade equipment through the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which transfers excess military equipment to state and local police across the country.