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Mayor charged for marrying gay couples

Wednesday, March 3, 2004
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. -- The village's mayor was charged Tuesday with 19 criminal counts for performing weddings for gay couples, an act of defiance that thrust the small community into the national debate over same-sex marriage. In Oregon, meanwhile, the attorney for Multnomah County, which includes the city of Portland, issued an opinion saying same-sex marriages should be allowed there. The import of the opinion was not immediately clear. New Paltz Mayor Jason West was charged with solemnizing marriages for couples who had no licenses, a misdemeanor under the domestic relations law, according to Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams.