corrente

Four days after presiding over a slew of same-sex marriages in his quaint Hudson Valley village, the mayor of New Paltz was charged Tuesday with 19 criminal violations and faces a court hearing Wednesday night, injecting the state's debate over gay marriages with increasing drama and urgency.

Mayor Jason West, 26, of the Green Party, is scheduled to respond in town court to charges that he broke the state's domestic relations law by solemnizing 25 marriages without a license, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine or up to a year in jail.

With other New York officials considering following West, Spitzer has said his office will soon offer a clarifying opinion on gay marriages and the mayor's actions, but local New Paltz officials acted first.

West plans to plead not guilty Wednesday and said he will perform more same-sex marriages Saturday. "I'm incredibly disappointed," he told the Associated Press.

West's lawyer, E. Joshua Rosenkranz of Manhattan, said his client did not break any laws. "Jason West does not belong in a criminal prosecution any more than Rosa Parks," he said.

West and his attorneys have said that New York law is gender-neutral and that he has the authority to solemnize marriages without a license.