Prof. Robin Wilson of Washington and Lee University in the NYTimes:

The wrangling over these religious protections [in New York] is evidence of just how important they are. Without such protections, groups that hew to their religious beliefs about marriage would be at risk of losing government contracts and benefits and would be subject to lawsuits from private citizens. These risks are not speculative. The City of San Francisco yanked $3.5 million in social services contracts from the Salvation Army when it refused, for religious reasons, to provide benefits to its employees' same-sex partners. In New Jersey, two sex-same couples sued a Methodist nonprofit group when it denied their requests to use the group's boardwalk pavilion for their commitment ceremonies.