New York Governor David A. Paterson

The New York Times reports that Governor David A. Paterson has issued a directive to all state agencies to commence revising over 1,300 policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada (Canada and California are regions allowing individuals from out of state/country from marrying there).

The directive was issued May 14 by the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, and told agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.” The directive comes on the heels of of a recent announcement by the Governor to gay community leaders on May 17 at the annual meeting ofthe  Empire State Pride Agenda. You can watch the videotaped message here:

The changes will include everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.

According to the NYT article, both supporters and opponents of same sex marriage said the directive “moves the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state.” The directive would make New York “the only state that did not itself allow gay marriage but fully recognized same-sex unions entered into elsewhere.”

The directive comes on the heels of the ruling by the state’s Court of Appeals that Monroe County cannot deny a NY lesbian couple, who got married out of the state, the right to full couple health insurance coverage.