A federal judge has given his blessing to two upstate New York couples who sued for the right to have more than 50 people at their weddings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The couples, Jenna DiMartile and Justin Crawford, and Pamella Giglia and Joe Durolek, filed a lawsuit against Gov. Andrew Cuomo on July 31, arguing religious ceremonies should not be treated differently than gatherings at protests, graduations or in restaurants.
They claimed Cuomo’s orders on “non-essential” get-togethers violated their First and 14th Amendment rights by “forbidding them to preside or participate in religious weddings according to the dictates of their conscious and religious beliefs.”
“Rules barring family and friends from participating in the wedding process undermine the rite of marriage in the Christian faith,” the court docs state.
They asked to be allowed to host around 100 guests each at the Arrowhead Golf Club in Akron, stating that the venue should be subject to the same rules allowing indoor dining to operate at 50 percent capacity in that part of the state.
“Plaintiffs are asking only that their chosen venue be allowed to accommodate their guests at the same capacity at which those same venues currently are permitted to function as restaurants,” the lawsuit states.
On Friday, Judge Glenn Suddaby in the Northern District ruled in their favor.
The decision came down just minutes before DiMartile walked down the aisle at The Sterling at Arrowhead Golf Club, where she and fiance Crawford had plans to host 115 guests, according to Syracuse.com, which first reported on the ruling.
“I think it’s something worth fighting for, if we really do believe in the meaning of marriage for people to be witnesses of our covenant before God,” DiMartile told the website. “We respect our venue for believing in that fight as well.”
Lucas James, co-owner of the Arrowhead, said the club’s restaurant can hold 438 people, meaning it is allowed to seat about 200 diners under coronavirus rules.
“So we would legally have over 200 people eating dinner one night and the following night, if we had a wedding and we called it a wedding, we would have been able to only have 50 people there and that’s not right,” Lucas told Syracuse.com
The governor’s press secretary, in a statement to The Post, bashed the judge’s decision as “irresponsible at best” since it “would allow for large, non-essential gatherings that endanger public health.”
“We will pursue all available legal remedies immediately and continue defending the policies that have led New York to having — and maintaining — one of the lowest infection rates in the country, while cases continue to rise in dozens of other states,” Caitlin Girouard said.