(New York City) Legally married lesbian couples will now have both names on the birth certificates of their children.

Last May Gov. Paterson issued an executive order recognizing the marriages of New York gay and lesbian couples who had gone outside the state to wed. The order directed state agencies to revise their policies.

The issuing of birth certificates is up to individual counties.  It is believed the decision in New York City is the first of its kind in the state.

The Board of Health decision, however, does not affect male couples where one partner has adopted a child or where one partner already is a parent. In those cases, the other partner must go through the adoptive process.

Same-sex marriage is illegal in New York State.

In 2006, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry. It said that the issue, however, could be taken up by the legislature.

Legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry in New York State passed the Assembly in 2007 but the then-GOP controlled Senate refused to take up the bill.

The measure is expected to be reintroduced in the Assembly this year.

Gov. David Paterson (D) has said if a marriage equality bill came to his desk he would sign it.

The bill, however, is unlikely to be advanced in the Senate. State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith (D) has said he does not have the votes.