Tag: NY State

UPDATE: Senator Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, told the Times Union Tuesday that he will back a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. He becomes the 31st senator to proclaim his public support for the bill. The bill needs 32 votes to pass the Senate. Yesterday, Sen. Alesi became the first GOP state senator to announce that he’ll vote for the marriage bill.

“I’m trying to do the right thing,” McDonald said. “Rather than wait I worked with the governor…I’m not out to alienate anybody. This is driven by compassion.”

“It’s my own evolution,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a vote on Friday.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has submitted a marriage equality bill to the New York Senate.

The bill contains a religious exemption clause which may convince the vote of GOP Senator Greg Ball, who has said his vote hinges on that language:

“The bill also guarantees that religious institutions and benevolent organizations such as the Knights of Columbus remain free to choose who may use their facilities for marriage ceremonies and celebrations or to whom they provide religious services, consistent with their religious principles.”

In the past, Gov. Cuomo has said he would not submit the marriage equality bill unless it had the votes to pass.

Read the press release here.

If you live in NY state, please contact your NY Senator. Find their contact info using this link:
http://www.nysenate.gov/senators

Please feel free to click the link and vote appropriately.

🙂

Seven or more Senate Republicans have signaled Gov. Cuomo that they’re ready to legalize same-sex marriage, more than enough to put the controversial and historic measure over the top this week, The NY Post has learned.

A highly knowledgeable Senate insider said yesterday that “far more of the [GOP] members are in play than anyone realizes, including some surprising names from conservative upstate areas.”

Influences contributing to the changes of heart are secret Republican polls showing majority support for gay marriage in key swing districts and the strong possibility that the GOP could lose control of the Senate next year to Democrats campaigning on the issue, sources said.

But despite the growing support, passage of same-sex marriage remains uncertain at the start of the final full week of the legislative session.

This all sounds promising, however, I prefer to remain optimistic but cautious. This has happened before and the LGBT community has had the rug pulled out from under it.

A vote could come up this week.

UPDATE: Sen Alesi became the first (R) to announce that he’ll vote for the marriage bill. We’re two votes away. Stay tuned. Sen. Alesi is very important as the votes are done alphabetically. If he starts out voting ‘yes’ it could mean other will follow.

Support for marriage equality/same-sex marriage/gay marriage is at a new high in New York, according to today’s new Quinnipiac Poll.

Voters in the survey backed legalizing marriage between same-sex couples 58-36%, “higher than ever while statistically unchanged from 56-38% April 14.”

Once again, we see a split along party lines: Democrats support legalization 72-23%, independents back it 58-34% and GOP voters are opposed, 64-34%. Men support same-sex marriage 58-37%; women, 59-34%.

From the NY Times: The campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in New York has been getting a cash infusion from some unexpected sources — conservative donors who traditionally support Republicans candidates and causes.

Their behind-the-scenes financial support — about $1 million in donations, delivered in recent weeks to a new coalition of gay rights organizations — could alter the political calculus of Albany lawmakers, especially the Republican state senators in whose hands the fate of gay marriage rests.

The donors represent some of New York’s wealthiest and most politically active figures.

The new donations represent roughly two-thirds of the same-sex marriage coalition’s fund-raising, making New York the rare state where a lobbying campaign in favor of legalizing gay unions is not being financed primarily by liberal donors and Democrats.

The donations are financing an intensive campaign of television advertisements and grass-roots activism coordinated by New Yorkers United for Marriage, a group of same-sex marriage advocates. The campaign is aimed chiefly at persuading several members of the Senate Republican majority to join most Senate Democrats in backing same-sex marriage, which was defeated in the Senate in 2009.

The newly recruited donors argue that permitting same-sex marriage is consistent with conservative principles of personal liberty and small government.

Some of those involved have made what might be termed the pro-business argument for same-sex marriage, arguing that the legalization of same-sex marriage would help keep New York economically competitive.

A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage won’t be introduced in the Senate unless the votes to pass it are available, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today.

Speaking at a news conference, the governor said votes were still being counted in the Republican-led chamber. Cuomo said the goal was to avoid a repeat of 2009, when a same-sex marriage bill was up for a vote in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate, but failed 38-24.

Cuomo, responding to a question about whether Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell jumped the gun on introducing his own measure and not wait for the program bill from the governor, said the focus remained on the Senate.

“This has never been about, on marriage equality, a vote in the Assembly primarily. The Assembly has passed it before. People expect it will pass again. The question is what’s going to happen in the Senate. The discussions that I’ve had with the collective group that is working on this in a unified way is we want to pass a bill. We don’t want to bring a bill up in the Senate that will fail, right? We don’t want to have an instant replay of last year. It’s not about having a vote for a sake of a vote. It’s about if it’s going to pass. and the conversations we’re having now will educate as to whether we’ll bring the bill to a vote.”

A coalition of advocacy groups was formed at Cuomo’s urging earlier this year with the goal of passing the bill this year. Cuomo himself has said same-sex marriage should be legalized by the end of this legislative session in June.

The pro-same-sex marriage group, New Yorkers United for Marriage, are lobbying Democratic and Republican lawmakers considered to be on the fence in the debate.

An estimated 1,000 gay-rights advocates rallied at the New York state capitol in Albany on Monday, hoping to convince the Republican-controlled Senate to legalize same-sex marriage this year.

“This is not a political issue. This is not about Republicans and Democrats. Marriage equality is an issue of civil rights, a basic issue of civil rights,” Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy told people who attended the Empire State Pride Agenda’s LGBT Equality and Justice Day.

The lieutenant governor said elected officials have a responsibility not just for what they personally believe in but for all the people they represent, “and we cannot represent all New Yorkers if we are closing the door on something so important.”

Now these are people speaking my language.  As many of you who read this blog know, I feel when civil rights are derived from a civil marriage license issued by a civil government, we are talking about civil rights.

Cuomo is viewed favorably by over 70 percent of New Yorkers and will begin a statewide tour Tuesday to build support for it and other agenda items.
(vis LGBTQnation.com)