'Marrying mayor' wants his old job back

'Marrying mayor' wants his old job back

West, speaking at a New Paltz Pride rally in 2005

NEW PALTZ – Former New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who put the village on the international map by performing same-sex marriages in 2004, wants another shot at the job.  He will run for mayor on May 3.

West, 34, has lived in the village since he was 17 but moved to California for six months after losing a bid for a second term in 2007. That convinced him to return to the place where he said he belongs – New Paltz.

As far as those same-sex marriages, if he could, he would do them all over again.

“If it had the same effect, if it would do good for the issue, I’m incredibly proud of that and I stand behind everything I did around those same-sex marriages,” he said.

While New York still does not allow same-sex marriages, it now does acknowledge legal rights of same-sex partners who were married in other states.