New York one vote away from legalizing gay marriage
Supporters focus on senators from several moderate districts
NEW YORK – New York, where the gay rights movement was born but is opposed by conservatives, could again change the political landscape for gays by becoming the largest state to allow same-sex marriage.
Advocates guided by first-term Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo have been maneuvering before the end of the legislative session Monday to get the one vote needed to win approval in the Republican-led state Senate. Supporters say momentum is on their side, but opponents are still pushing to prevent the measure from reaching the Senate floor.
Although five states allow gay couples to marry, New York would be by far the most populous and diverse state to do so. Opponents point to voter defeats of same-sex marriage laws in 31 other states, but nationwide polls show growing acceptance of the idea. A wave of gay and lesbian marriages in New York would establish a new reality that defenders of traditional marriage might find difficult to overcome in public opinion or the courts.
California voters approved Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage after it was briefly legal in 2008. A federal judge later declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional; his ruling is on hold pending appeal.
On Wednesday, the Democrat-dominated state Assembly approved the bill a fourth time, but the Senate remained divided, with 31 of 62 senators committed to voting for it. Senate Republicans spent much of Thursday privately debating the issue.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg flew to Albany on Thursday to appeal again to Republicans.
The focus is on a few little-known Republican lawmakers from Westchester County, Long Island and Poughkeepsie, where GOP voters tend to be moderates.
New York has long been more liberal than the rest of the country, but also has a strong streak of social conservatism.
New York Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been a central opponent of the same-sex marriage bill, and has written regularly on his blog of the perils of defining marriage as anything other than between a man and a woman in a “loving, permanent, life-giving union to procreate children.”
“Yes, I admit, I come at this as a believer, who, along with other citizens of a diversity of creeds believe that God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage a long time ago,” he wrote Tuesday.
To appease religious leaders, the measure introduced by Cuomo on Tuesday would excuse their institutions from any obligation to solemnize or provide facilities for same-sex weddings.
That didn’t satisfy New York’s formidable Conservative Party, which has made it clear that Republican senators who vote for the gay-marriage bill will lose its support.
“Any Republican who votes for this will not be on the Conservative line,” said Conservative Party Executive Director Shaun Marie. “They don’t carry conservative values and there’s no sense in telling people that they do.”
Two Republicans, James S. Alesi of Monroe County and Roy J. McDonald of the Albany area, have said they would join 29 of 30 Senate Democrats in backing the bill. One Democratic senator, a Pentecostal minister from the Bronx, has long said he would not condone gay marriage.
“Six national polls in a row have shown the majority of Americans support the freedom to marry,” said Marc Solomon, a national pro-gay-marriage organizer who has been involved both in New York and in California’s effort to overturn Proposition 8. “Even since voters approved Proposition 8, public opinion has come far quickly towards tolerance. And there is a reason for that: People are getting to know gay people and gay couples and understand why marriage is important to them.”
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which has been a major supporter of Proposition 8, said New York’s possible approval does not portend a shift in the tide for gay marriage.
“In every single state – and there have been 31 – that puts this issue before the voters, marriage is protected,” Brown said. “If New York votes against marriage, it’s a big loss. But we have had many victories.”
New York has no initiative or referendum process, so the only way opponents could seek to reverse the measure, if it becomes law, would be to pursue a constitutional amendment. Such an amendment would require voter support, but only after two successive Legislatures approve it.