N.Y. Marriage Equality Opponents : Fight Not Over

July 24 marks the first day that gay and lesbian couples can wed in New York State, but many political groups and religious institutions are claiming that the fight regarding opposition to same-sex marriage is far from over, according to The New York Times.

Influential opponents, such as Brian S. Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, and Rev. Jason J. McGuire, the executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, are currently leading the fight after an unsuccessful campaign to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Brown has marked July 24 as the start of a new chapter in a long fight against marriage equality. "The notion that you pass same-sex marriage and the issue goes away, that's one of the biggest lies told by proponents for redefining marriage," he said.

Various opposition groups, including the National Organization for Marriage, have rallies planned in Albany, Buffalo, New York City and Rochester on this day.

McGuire predicted complications for professionals in the wedding industry who have objections to working for those in the LGBT community; he had fought to include protections for private, wedding related businesses, although the exemptions did not pass.

In addition to many high profile opponents, a handful of government workers have expressed their disdain over the new law. Various individuals, including municipal clerks, are set to resign before gay marriage becomes legal in the Empire State.

Laura L. Fotusky, a town clerk in Barker, N.Y., in Broome County, near Binghamton, will resign on July 21; three days before same-sex marriage becomes legal. Fotusky said that she could not be in good conscience by issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals.

In her resignation letter to the Town Board of Barker, she wrote, "I believe that there is a higher law than the law of the land. It is the law of God in the Bible."