Stephen P. Younger, president of the New York State Bar Association, which sponsored the marriage equality resolution, told the AP that the vote in favor of the resolution was overwhelming.
The ABA resolution (pdf) states in part:
The states that have decided to allow same-sex couples to marry have done so because of their recognition that the denial of marriage violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian citizens and their understanding that families and children are vulnerable without the protections of marriage. This proposed recommendation will signal the ABA's support for the extension of equal marriage rights to same-sex couples under state, territorial, and tribal law, as consistent with our country's constitutional principles of equal protection and due process, as well as states' strong interest in protecting and fostering the family unit.
Excluding same-sex couples from the right to marry has the practical impact of denying them and their children a host of rights and responsibilities that exist under both state and federal law. State protections automatically extended to married spouses include the ability to make health care decisions for one's spouse, the right to direct the remains of a deceased spouse and inherit from his or her estate absent a will, the security of being able to provide health insurance for one's spouse, and the peace of mind knowing that both adults' relationships with children born to the couple will be protected.
Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., allow same-sex marriages, other states, such as Maryland, recognize gay marriages from those states.
The ABA's resolution follows on the heels of a federal court judge's invalidation of California's Proposition 8, which stripped lesbians and gay men of the right to wed in the state.