In New York, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced Wednesday the state’s law forbids the issuing of same sex marriage licenses but it does require the state to recognize same sex marriages performed elsewhere. Gay rights organizations said Spitzer’s ruling was monumental. David Buckel, marriage project director for Lambda Legal, said “New York State became the first state in the nation to clarify that same-sex marriages performed out of state will be respected here.” Meanwhile the mayor of the New York town of Nyack announced his town would go ahead and become the state’s second to begin solemnizing marriages between same sex couples. The mayor of New Paltz, Jason West, was charged earlier this week on 19 counts of violating the state’s marriage laws. And in Oregon, more than 200 same sex couples received marriage licenses on Wednesday on the first day that Multnomah County recognized same sex marriage.