Yesterday afternoon, 47 Rockland and Orange County residents braved the pouring, freezing rain and stood across from State Senator Thomas Morahan's office in Nanuet to protest his vote against gay marriage.
There were gay families, there were straight families, and there were both the young and the old. There were seasoned politicians and there were those who never attended a political event before. Many of us were strangers, and those of us that know each other often vehemently disagree on many topics. Despite this, we stood in solidarity and delivered a strong statement to Senator Morahan and the entire State Senate:
We will accept nothing short of marriage equality.
After ducking the subject for seven months, State Senator Thomas P. Morahan has said that he will not support civil rights for gays that will allow them to marry. Morahan told the New York Journal News this weekend that he's going to vote against it when it comes before the State Senate.
But the real news is the tortured logic Morahan uses to justify his stance.
"I probably will be making a public statement somewhere in the near future," said Sen. James S. Alesi, a Monroe County Republican who represents part of Rochester. Insiders say he is one potential vote for the bill.
With no hands left to grab their Senators by the unmentionables with, the Republicans are giving up on this issue:
Opponents believe that advocates of same-sex marriage will need to get at least four Republican senators to back the bill. "Even if we did know, we wouldn't say," Duane said of Senate Republicans who might cross party lines.
Senate Republicans say the issue, unlike the budget, is highly personal and will be up to rank-and-file lawmakers to decide on their own.
The Conservative Party, on the other hand, is still fighting:
Those who cross party lines can write off future support from the Conservative Party, warned the head of the small but influential political group.
"This is a line-in-the-sand issue for me," party Chairman Michael R. Long said Monday.
Long, who questioned the accuracy of the Siena poll's findings, said the legislation is about "destroying the sanctity of marriage." He said that it also would lead to higher costs for employers who will have to expand pension and insurance benefits for gay workers who marry.
But overall, the insiders are optimistic:
"Knowing what I know today, I believe this governor will be able to sign a marriage- equality bill into law this summer," said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the main gay rights lobby organization in New York.
"We'll have a majority with a few votes to spare," predicted State State Sen. Thomas K. Duane, an openly gay Democrat from Manhattan.
Also, as we probably guessed, the article gets on the record statements from 2 moderate Buffalo-area Senators, Stachowski (D) and Maziarz (R), as against the bill.
The Governor's numbers continue their swan dive in to record "holy crap" territory in today's new Siena Poll.
The numbers for Paterson are pretty much universally bad, but the one that really sticks out is this one. Only 12 percent of New Yorkers are prepared to vote for Paterson next year. A whopping 71 percent are looking to vote for an unnamed "someone else." The Governor even loses out to his immediate predecessors as New Yorkers would prefer to see Mario Cuomo, George Pataki, or even Eliot Spitzer back in office over Paterson.
"Voters are pining for the days of Mario Cuomo (39 percent) and George Pataki (33 percent) as Governor," Greenberg said. "A plurality of Democrats and independent voters would choose Mario and a majority of Republicans chose George. While 14 percent of all voters want to see Spitzer back in the Capitol, only eight percent would opt to have Paterson as Governor if choosing among the last four to hold that office."
That's gotta hurt.
In other news, a majority of the state now supports Marriage Equality for all New Yorkers, support that is strongest in New York City, but is strong in all regions of the state.
File this under "Stuff You Just Can't Make Up". First we had the unintentionally hilarious "teabaggers", now we have the National Organization for Marriage. They are the folks who produced this ridiculous "scary" ad:
Now they are formally launching a campaign called "2 Million for Marriage" which they have so helpfully abbreviated for us as "2M4M". No, really. I swear to God.
What's even better is that they apparently didn't register the domains for their campaign before they announced it either. The URL 2M4M.org is, shall we say, less than sympathetic to NOM's cause.
Chuck Schumer is no longer the last statewide elected official supporting civil unions over full marriage equality. Liz reports that he made his "evolution" on the issue clear last night at a private dinner organized by the Empire State Pride Agenda.
At a private risotto dinner last night with gay leaders and elected officials at Gramercy Tavern last night, Sen. Chuck Schumer reversed himself on the issue of same-sex marriage, saying he not only now supports it but also backs a full reversal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Schumer's office confirmed the meeting and also the senior senator's change of heart, issuing the following statement from the Brooklyn Democrat (who is traveling upstate today):
"It's time. Equality is something that has always been a hallmark of America and no group should be deprived of it. New York, which has always been at the forefront on issues of equality, is appropriately poised to take a lead on this issue."
...
While Clinton was running for president, there was no way Schumer could move on this topic - no matter how much he might have wanted to follow the lead set by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his LG, David Paterson - especially since Barack Obama also took the civil-union-only approach.
This is certainly welcome news and I applaud the Senator for finally coming around on this issue.
Awfully nice friends you've got there, Senator Diaz.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms named Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. its statesman of the year today during Legislative Day 2009 "To Every Generation". The event drew hundreds of Christians, some donning signs indicating their opposition to legislation that would legalize same-sex marriages.
Diaz has been with the group on the issue. He is a Democrat from the Bronx and a reverend.
Several speakers at the event included lawyer David Gibbs III, who represented the parents of Theresa "Terri" Schiavo, and Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage and the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.
The stretch of Broadway on the side of City Hall is empty now, but for the past two hours thousands of people have been circulating within several blocks of Lower Manhattan. Gay and straight alike came down on this humid Saturday afternoon to protest the passage of Proposition 8 in California. It is equally a rally against similar measures in Arizona and Florida as well as the gay adoption ban in Arkansas.
It should be a no-brainer that all Americans should receive equal rights under the law, yet hate, ignorance and bigotry have prevented us from that from the beginning of our country. Yet as Jon Stewart so eloquently shoved in Bill O'Reilly's face the other night, the side of history is with us. That isn't just in Greenwich Village but every village and every city across our country. This is what progress looked like here in New York City.
Barbara and Robin Levine-Ritterman left New Haven City Hall with the first marriage license issued to a same-sex couple in Connecticut on Wednesday. Robin is holding the license.
Behold the abomination that is unabashed joy and love, Senator Diaz. I hope you will recover from witnessing such a horror.
Tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters are in the streets in California and Salt Lake City and around the country protesting the votes banning same-sex marriage in California.
Join them! Make your voices heard right here in New York City.
We will tell the Mormon Church how we feel about its relentless campaign to condemn and control our lives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was, by far, the biggest financer of California's heinous and hateful Proposition 8. The Mormon Church begged their members to donate money to Prop 8, pouring 20 million dollars into the campaign. And their attacks on us didn't start there and aren't about to end. They're plotting right now to bring their money and influence to bear against the LGBT community everywhere in this country, including trying to prevent marriage equality in New York.
Join us in speaking out against hate and discrimination! Stop them taking away your rights!
I'm not usually the biggest fan of street protests- I vastly prefer channeling those resources into electoral activities and influencing policymakers via calling their offices and such. However, since this took place in California, there is little we can do to affect the California legislature. But we can bring negative attention to the Mormon Church's role in financing Prop 8 and perhaps use that shame to convince moderate New York Mormons to pressure their leaders to not take such bigoted stances against the gay community.
The Connecticut Supreme Court today ruled that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
Connecticut is now poised to become the nation's third state to allow same-sex marriage, joining California and Massachusetts.
"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," the ruling says. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others.
"The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry."
A new Q Poll out this morning shows that New Yorkers support Governor Paterson's recent move to have New York state government recognize and honor same sex marriages performed out of state, though they do think it should have been the legislature's job to make it happen. Honestly, I agree. It really should have been the legislature's job, but in the absence of them doing anything about it, (Bruno punting on the ME bill passed by the Assembly last year comes to mind) Paterson had to step in. It was the right thing to do.
New York Voters Back Gov On Gay Marriage, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Paterson Approval Up, But Bloomberg Leads Gov Race
New York State voters support 53 - 40 percent Gov. David Paterson's order to state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside New York, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. But voters say 55 - 30 percent that this issue should have been decided by the State Legislature, not the Governor.
Democrats support the Governor's gay marriage order 64 - 30 percent, as do independent voters 56 - 37 percent, while Republicans oppose it 57 - 37 percent, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds.
When New York State voters are given three choices on the gay marriage union:
* 42 percent say same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry;
* 31 percent say these couples should be allowed to form civil unions, but not marry;
* 21 percent say there should be no legal recognition of same-sex unions.
There is a significant gender split, with 48 percent of women and 34 percent of men supporting same-sex marriage. A total of 63 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of independent voters support either same-sex marriage or civil unions.
The poll also finds that Paterson's job approval rating is up, though he needs to work on those re-elect numbers as he's trailing both Bloomberg and (gulp) Rudy Giuliani when New Yorkers are asked who they want to see elected in 2010.
New York State voters approve 56 - 17 percent of the job Gov. Paterson is doing and say 67 - 20 percent that he will be able to govern effectively. Voters also say 51 - 34 percent that Paterson will be able to restore trust and confidence in state government.
This compares to a 50 - 10 percent approval rating, with 39 percent undecided, in an April 17 Quinnipiac University poll, one month after Gov. Paterson took office.
But when New York voters are asked who they want to see elected Governor in 2010:
* 30 percent name New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg;
* 26 percent name former New York city Mayor Rudolph Giuliani;
* 23 percent want Gov. Paterson reelected;
* 15 percent want State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
All in all, good news for the Governor as well as for the future of Marriage Equality in the Empire State.
I get plenty of email asking me to pass on this or that tidbit. Happens everyday and I don't often comply. But, I'm going to pass this one on:
Governor Patterson has said that NY will recognize legal same-sex marriages from other states and countries. He's doing a poll on whether people support it. If you're interested in taking 15 seconds to lodge your support, just call 1-518-474-8390 and say 'I support the Governor's directive on marriage,' then give them your 5 digit (New York) zip code.
Send this to all your friends and progressive coworkers in New York ASAP!
Governor Paterson has just moved the ball forward for marriage equality in New York in a big way. The Governor has directed all state agencies to prepare to recognize and honor same-sex marriages granted by other states and jursidictions. Given the current leadership of the state Senate which refused to even consider the very strong marriage equality bill passed by the Assembly last year, this move by Paterson is the strongest measure the Executive can take at this time. This is big news.
Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.
In a directive issued on May 14, the governor's legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere "should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union."
The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.
...
"Very shortly, there will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, and probably thousands and thousands and thousands of gay people who have their marriages recognized by the state," said Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, a Democrat who represents the Upper West Side and has pushed for legalization of gay unions.
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Short of an act by the Legislature, the directive ordered by Mr. Paterson is the one of the strongest statements a state can make in favor of gay unions.
"Basically we've done everything we can do on marriage legislatively at this point," said Sean Patrick Maloney, a senior adviser to Mr. Paterson. "But there are tools in our tool kit on the executive side, and this is one."
This isn't the whole enchilada, but it's one hell of a step forward for marriage equality in the Empire State.
The New York State Supreme Court today upheld a 2004 decision by former Comptroller Alan Hevesi to treat out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples the same as any other legal marriage in terms of benefits afforded to state employees through the New York State Retirement System. The Empire State Pride Agenda's blog has more:
Comptroller DiNapoli's office announced today that the New York State Supreme Court (which is not, despite its name, the highest court in New York State) has ruled to uphold the 2004 decision by then Comptroller Alan Hevesi to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in Canada as the same as any other marriage in New York State when it comes to benefits provided through the New York State Retirement System.
It tosses out challenges to recognizing out-of-state marriages based on the Hernandez v. Robles ruling in July 2006, which stated that it was not inherently unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry in New York State. That case discussed only the issuing of marriage licenses in New York and had no bearing on marriages performed legally in other jurisdictions. Therefore, private entities (like businesses) cannot point to the Hernandez case if trying to rationalize denying spousal benefits to gay couples who have gone to Canada, for example, to get married.
It should also be noted that Comptroller Tom DiNapoli went a step further by stating that not only Canadian marriages, but all out-of-state marriages (from states/countries that legally perform same-sex marriages) would be recognized.
Hevesi's decision in 2004 ultimately led to other entities recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages, most notably Mayor Bloomberg's decision (also in 2004) to require New York City's pension fund to recognize these marriages as fully legal and valid.
Hevesi's original decision is based on New York State's comity laws, which holds that couples who are legally married in another jurisdiction shall be treated as any other married couple in New York State. Eliot Spitzer, who was Attorney General at the time, also interpreted the laws to include legally married same-sex couples.
Today's State Supreme Court Decision upholding the rights of gay marriages to benefit from the state pension system as any other couple is a step in the right direction in our struggle to provide full marriage equality to all families. While other states and countries have moved forward, New York can not continue falling behind on this important civil rights issue. As we demand civic obligations from every citizen, today's court decision is a resounding message on the need to provide equal protection to all.
Though same-sex marriage is not legal in New York State, it is encouraging that the court sees the importance of extending benefits to those whose same sex unions are sanctioned by other states and jurisdictions"
Damn, that was quick. Less than 24 hours after the New York State Assembly passed a bill extending full marriage equality to all New Yorkers, one man's marriage has already been utterly ruined.
You know, I think these people have a point. My wife left me this morning for her "best friend" who just so happens to be a woman. I begged her to stay and said, "it only passed the Assembly...can't you wait until the Senate passes it until you let this erode our marriage?". She said there was nothing she could do now but perhaps I should ask Soares or Spitzer for a date since I was always writing about them so much.
I can already here all those "I told ya so" comments.
State Senate Majority Leader, and my dear friend, Uncle Joe Bruno has decided to kill Marriage Equality in New York for this session. I can't say that I'm particularly surprised given that Bruno is kind of a dick.
The Assembly passed same-sex marriage legislation Tuesday night, but the state's highest ranking Republican vowed not to allow it to come to a vote in the Senate.
The bill passed the Democratically controlled Assembly 85-61.
...
The bill now moves on to the Senate.
But with the current session to end on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R) repeated his pledge not to allow the bill to come to a vote in the GOP controlled Senate.
Bruno declared the bill "dead on arrival" Tuesday night.
"We not doing gay marriage by Thursday that's for sure, or this year," declared Bruno.
Oy. Oh, and you've got to love this quote from Assemblyman Ted Haggard Kolb:
"I do feel threatened. I do feel harmed," said Assemblyman Brian Kolb (R-Canandaigua). "It's a direct challenge to me and how I was brought up."
I guess he can thank Uncle Joe for killing this bill. Otherwise he'd be forced to marry a gay dude. Or something.
I don't often say this, but today I am rather proud of the New York State Assembly. Late last night the Assembly finally passed a bill guaranteeing full marriage equality to all New Yorkers. The New York state Assembly now becomes the only house of any legislature in the nation outside of California to pass such legislation. Should the bill become law, which, to be honest, I believe is rather doubtful this session and probably next as well, New York would be the first state in the nation to extend full marriage equality through a legislative process. From Gay City News:
In an historic vote late in the evening on Tuesday, June 19, the New York State Assembly approved legislation guaranteeing marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.
The measure was approved by a vote of 85 to 61 after a floor debate that lasted more than three hours.
The marriage equality legislation was introduced by Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer on April 27, and sponsored in the Assembly by Daniel O'Donnell, an Upper West Side Democrat. O'Donnell and his partner John Banta were among the plaintiffs denied marriage rights in a ruling last July by New York's highest court.
"It is extraordinarily important to have actual, real live gay people in the legislative body who can speak to the issue," O'Donnell told Gay City News hours before the vote. "It gets past the esoteric arguments about equality, which are important, but they are not the same thing as saying, 'I want this.' It's not the same as, 'This is important to me.' On the floor today, I'm going to talk about John and how we've been together for 26 years and about my fear of going out one day and getting hit by a bus and not having taken care of my partner."
...
Prior to this week, only in California - where the Senate and Assembly passed a gay marriage bill in 2005, which was vetoed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - has a legislative body in the U.S. affirmatively embraced equal civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
O'Donnell as the bill's sponsor answered specific questions from his colleagues, emphasizing that neither religious nor public officials are required to perform any marriage ceremony under current statute and that nothing would change on that score. He also talked about evidence emerging from New Jersey's four-month experience with civil unions, in which both gay advocates and state officials have received hundreds of complaints from gay and lesbian couples who say that employers and institutions such as hospitals have not treated them as spouses, as the law requires.
It seems the debate was "decorous" though GCN notes this bit from an Assemblyman from Brooklyn:
Several assemblymembers who spoke in opposition focused on religious concerns, none more than Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat. Holding up a letter from four Jewish organizations urging defeat of the bill, Hikind said he would not change his vote "unless God sends me a message in the next two hours." He pointed to recent articles in Time magazine and the Boston Globe that he said discussed the potential legalization of incest.
"Maybe we should include incest in this bill, get it all over," Hikind said. "It is coming."
New York City Comptroller William Thompson has just released a study showing that extending full marriage equality to all New Yorkers would be good for business (besides just being the right thing to do.) Thompson's study projects that enacting marriage equality would bring nearly $200 million dollars to the state in the first three years, the lion's share coming to NYC.
New York State could reap an economic windfall of nearly $200 million if it legalized same-sex marriage, mostly from spending by out-of-town visitors who would come to get married or to attend a wedding, a study released Tuesday has found.
City Comptroller William Thompson's study estimated that legalizing gay marriage would generate $184 million in net revenue for the state over the first three years after such a law took effect. Of that, $142 million would be generated in New York City.
The figures account for additional costs to private businesses that would be required to insure newly married gay spouses. The study assumes that more than 56,000 same-sex couples would travel from out of state to be married here, generating $137 million in wedding spending. That spending would include hotels for the couples and guests, and other wedding expenses, such as catering halls or restaurants.
"Legalizing marriage for same-sex couples in New York would have impacts beyond allowing individuals to make the full legal commitments to their partners that opposite-sex couples take for granted," Thompson said in the report.
