David Paterson Is Done Trying To Force Gay Marriage. Will Cuomo Take Up The Fight?
As he squeaks out the remaining weeks of his governorship, New York’s David Paterson put out feelers one last time to see if state lawmakers would approve same-sex marriage in the lame duck session. The response: still no. And so Paterson has abandoned one of his singular goals during his tenure, though I think it’s safe to say the failure is not his. The governor has been an outspoken advocate for our community; he has spent much political capital trying to engender marriage equality; and he has called bullshit on the bigotry exhibited by elected officials. He tried doing a wonderful thing, and then religious hatred got in the way. So now it’s Andrew Cuomo’s turn. And you can put faith in him or not.
David Patterson is a good man, it’s unfortunate that his tenure was so short and tumultuous. Circumstances and the odds were heavily stacked against him along with a fractious and corrupt state senate. There is no doubt Patterson did what he thought was in the best interest of NY state but he just wasn’t up to the task.
Having said that, I look forward to seeing what the new governor has up his sleeve. Andrew Cuomo however wouldn’t even be half the advocate for the LGBT community David Patterson was.
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Um, they just found 200,000 new ballots in New York state. Usually “lost” ballots tend to come from more liberal areas. It could very well sway the state Senate results (at least tying the senate, in which case the Democrats retain control).
Also, a gay marriage bill will still likely be brought to a vote even under Republican leadership.
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I know that New Yorkers had some problems with this guy, but I have to say a big Thank You to Governor Patterson for forcing the issue into the open, pressuring a vote so that the Dems like Diaz who were anti-gay rights were forced out into the open.
Thanks for trying Gov. Patterson!