[GRAPHIC: Wedding]
BILLIAM VAN ROSTENBERG: It was an historic case. It was the first time that Jason West, the Mayor of New Paltz at the time, had married same sex couples.
JONATHAN KATZ: So what happened is he got arrested and I'm one of the judges here in New Paltz.
[GRAPHIC: Open book]
JONATHAN KATZ: And ultimately I was asked to determine the constitutionality of New York law, which was preventing and still prevents same sex marriages. And I ultimately determined that it was unconstitutional to prevent same sex marriages.
BILLIAM VAN ROSTENBERG: When he took that initiative and ruled in favor of us--I have goose bumps on my whole body talking about it; it changed a lot of our lives and gave us hope.
[GRAPHIC: Man laughing]
[GRAPHIC: Men hugging]
JONATHAN KATZ: The state has no business telling people who they can marry. People make religious arguments, but that can't be used to make a legal decision.
BILLIAM VAN ROSTENBERG: Thanks to people like Jonathan Katz, with their integrity, and their hard work, and going out on a limb.
[GRAPHIC: Man holding newspaper]
BILLIAM VAN ROSTENBERG: He's just an amazing person, very dynamic, very intelligent. He's very much in touch with what's happening. So he is really the person to get in contact with if you need some legal advice.
JONATHAN KATZ: If you're in a relationship and you're not married AND it doesn't matter whether you're same sex or not, but if you're not married you don't benefit from all the structure of the--and mechanisms for distributing property, so a title does matter.
[GRAPHIC: Crowd at wedding]
JONATHAN KATZ: When you're married the law provides for that and it's a very organized process. So that makes the discrimination very real from a dollars and cents for people not to be able to be protected by New York divorce law just because they are a same sex couple.
BILLIAM VAN ROSTENBERG: He's a great attorney, very accessible, very down to earth, and extremely intelligent.
[GRAPHIC: Open book]
BILLIAM VAN ROSTENBERG: And what he did to support democracy will never be forgotten, it definitely goes in the history books.
[GRAPHIC: Eyeglasses]

