Nearly six years after gay marriage was legalised in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has named the first openly gay judge to the state’s top court.

Justice Paul G Feinman will take his seat on the New York Court of Appeals after serving two decades in the state’s lower courts. He fills the seat left by Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s sudden death in April.

The announcement coincided with New York City’s Pride week, when LGBT community members and their allies gather to celebrate their identities. The significance was not lost on LGBT rights advocates.

“There is something profoundly important about finally having a LGBT person on the bench who brings these life experiences,” Susan Sommer of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund told The New York Times. “It will certainly enrich the conversation when these issues come before the court.”

Mr Cuomo heralded his appointment a “major step forward for the state's judicial system”.

Mr Feinman, while acknowledging the “historical marker” of his appointment, was coy, saying: “I just hope the governor chose me because he thought I was the best for the job”.

Colleagues described the 57-year-old leukemia survivor as a “progressive” judge. He is perhaps best known for tossing out a 2011 lawsuit that aimed to bar the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero.

State senators, however, said they were impressed by balanced rulings.

“When we looked at the cases that Judge Feinman decided over the years, one of the things that impressed me the most was that he always reviewed the law in front of him and to the best of his ability he always tried to apply the law without any bias or prejudice,” Senate Judiciary Committee chairman John Bonacic said during his confirmation hearing.

Mr Feinman was unanimously confirmed by the state Senate on Wednesday.

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The Merrick, Long Island native received a degree in French literature from Columbia University in 1981. He attended law school at the University of Minnesota on a full scholarship, and started his career as a public defender for the Legal Aid Society.

Mr Feinman advanced quickly from his role as a court lawyer to a civil court judge, and finally a Supreme Court justice for the New York Appellate Division, First Department. Along the way, he served as a leader of LeGaL, the LGBT Bar Association. and the International Association of LGBT Judges.