ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – On May 19, 2004, Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman, after being together almost 13 years, were married in a small town north of Boston. Four hours later they were back in their Greenwich Village home and, as far as New York state was concerned, the wedding never happened.

That changed May 28 when New York Gov. David Paterson directed state agencies to make sure same-sex couples are provided as many as 1,300 benefits and rights afforded to married heterosexual couples. They include collecting health and pension benefits, being admitted as “close family” in a hospital room and transferring a business license.

“We learned about it when we picked up our paper this morning on the front stoop,” said Zimmerman, who with Wexler, a 37-year-old film director, have four children ages 2 to 8. They rushed to their breakfast table to read the article, then tried to explain it to Jerry, Ella, Ruby and Violet.

“It was just a great conversation for us to have,” said Zimmerman, 35. “They definitely understand what’s fair and not fair and definitely understand their family isn’t being treated the same way as their friends’ families.”

For them, Paterson’s two-page memo featured in news accounts nationwide Thursday is a manifesto.

Others, New York’s Catholic bishops among them, see it as an assault on the family, and a big foot in the door toward legalizing gay marriage in New York.

“The definition of marriage predates recorded history,” argued New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. “No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose.”

Still, Paterson, a Roman Catholic, defended his action Thursday by trying to downplay its magnitude. He said not only is his decision supported by long-standing civil rights law, but failure to act would expose the state to litigation if it didn’t recognize other states’ marriages for all.

“We have a time-held and time-tested tradition honoring those marital rights,” Paterson said at a Manhattan news conference. “I am taking the same approach that this state always has with respect to out-of-state or marriages conducted in foreign governments being recognized here in the state of New York. I am following the law as it has always existed.”

Paterson, long a supporter of same-sex marriage, rebuked critics who claimed he crossed the constitution – “they should get a little better informed” – and Republican lawmakers who said he overstepped his bounds – they should go into session and “do something.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s beautiful,” Paterson said.

Neighboring Massachusetts is the only U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but its residency requirements bar New Yorkers from marrying there. California may follow in June. Canada is among the nations where gay marriage is legal.

Even the state’s biggest gay lobby, the Empire State Pride Agenda, is trying to figure out exactly what Paterson’s directive will do in New York, and if it will survive a possible challenge in the state’s highest court.

The organization said the directive will likely be felt in clarifying a surviving same-sex spouse’s rights in the state workers’ compensation program; inheritance of vending, commercial fishing and other commercial licenses; tax breaks on property transfers and jointly filed income tax returns; and conflict-of-interest provisions that prevent spouses from certain activities in regulated businesses like banking and lobbying.

Politically, Paterson’s directive was a strong return to his liberal base after spending the first nine weeks of his time in office staking out a claim as a fiscal conservative. And he boosted the left with a measure that he says won’t cost the state any money.

Timing also played a role.

On May 28, California’s state government issued a directive that effective June 17 same-sex couples could be legally wed in that state. Hours later, Paterson’s office, led by his openly gay chief of staff, Charles J. O’Byrne, released their own memo to agency heads.