06.20.07
New York assembly passes same-sex marriage with bipartisan support
The Democratically-controlled New York State assembly passed Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage Tuesday night in a decisive 85-61 vote. Gay rights advocates hailed it as a victory even though the bill stands almost no chance of being voted on in the state senate, where Republicans hold a slim two-seat majority.
“The assembly has demonstrated once again that it is the leader on civil rights and providing equality for our community where it didn’t exist before in New York,” said Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan Van Capelle.
Assembly member Teresa Sayward, from the more conservative upstate New York, has a gay son and was the only Republican co-sponsor of the bill.
“My son didn’t want to be different. Lord knows he wanted to change,” said Sayward during the floor debate. “It is not a life choice. My God loves my son. And as sure as I’m standing here tonight, this is certainly not for me, nor should it be for any of us, anything other than a civil rights issue.”
New York’s legislative session ends on Thursday and the Republican senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has said that he has no intention of taking up the bill.
“If the senate Republican leadership persists in thwarting a vote on marriage, I predict that the gay community will mobilize in unprecedented fashion to raise a tremendous amount of money and provide an army of volunteers to defeat Republican Senators and elect pro-marriage Democrats in 2008,” says Geto.