Whether or not New York’s State Senate heeds Gov. David Paterson’s call to pass marriage equality legislation is one thing. Whether they’ll vote on it is another. And while Sen. Thomas Duane says he’s got the numbers to push this thing through (and Paterson believes it will happen), like us, Paterson tells Towleroad he’ll be modestly satisfied with simply knowing which legislators favor equality. And which legislators endorse discrimination.
d-day
Gov. Paterson Wants NY’s Lawmakers to Choose a ‘For’ or ‘Against Discrimination’ Column
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dontblamemeivotedforhillary
I’ll have the vegetarian meal, please!
Joey
Dontblame may be having the vegetarian meal, but I’ll be having the tube steak. I’m a meat eater after all.
Brian
The Governor gets it. Enough of the “gay-friendly” bull-shit. Either you support equality, or you don’t. Have the vote – America is watching.
CHIP1218
I will be surprised if they actually vote, shocked if this passes. From what I been told by those in the know in Albany, Duanne would need FIVE Republicans to vote with him to replace the Conservative Democrats who will not vote for marriage equality. After the election results showing disasterous for suburban Democrats – Westchester County Executive lost in a landslide, and Nassau County Executive holds a 200 vote lead with 12,000 absentee ballots to count – the Republicans smell blood. Also, factor in what happened to Dede in NY-23, and the threat that Conservative Party Chairman made earlier this year – that any Republican that votes yes will lose their endorsement – and getting those 5 Republicans is even harder!
NoDoubleStandards
Yes, factor in NY 23, and I would say your friends in Albany are clueless because what happened in 23 was that the Democrats won the seat.
me
he’s not as attractive without the facial hair 🙁 still pretty cute though
Schteve
@NoDoubleStandards Except the Democrat that won there is against marriage equality. One of the reasons conservatives forced Scozzafava out was because she supported it.
Robert, NYC
Its bad enough 39 dems opposed health care reform which will probably fail in the senate if it only passed by more than five votes in the house bill.
Marriage equality too will probably not get through and I hope I’m wrong, but if its voted down, then its time for us to get really serious about this issue, take off the gloves and go after every dem who opposes it and make sure they don’t get elected again. My only fear is that if it fails as well as health care reform that must include a strong public option, the republicans will take back Albany in 2010 which will mean the end of marriage equality for years. We’re fucked either way. Maybe its time to stop supporting the dems if the worst case scenario comes to fruition.
CHIP1218
@NoDoubleStandards
You obviously know NOTHING about New York State election results in 2008 and 2009. The Conservative Party line, when added to the Republican Party line is tremendously effective in resulting in Moderate Republicans winning in swing districts. If the Conservative Party backed Dede, she would have won. I do not know of any political observer, pundit, pollster, etc. who thinks the Democrat would have won if it was a 2 person race.
There are Republican State Senators in suburban districts that would have lost to the Democratic candidate if they did not have the Conservative Party endorsement and there was a third candidate (For example, my State Senator, Republican Kemp Hannon only beat the Democrat challenger by 3030 votes out of 120,000 cast, he needed the 4504 votes from the Conservative Party line to keep his job!). These State Senators are on the fence about voting for marriage equality because they know they will not be re-elected in 2010 if they vote yes! In Nassau County, the incumbent Democrat County Executive only holds a 200 vote lead out of roughly 250,000 votes cast. If the local Conservative Party did not run their own candidate, the Republican would have an extra 9,500 votes and would have easily beat the Democrat, without need of a recount! The Conservative Party in New York State is the only reason why there was no vote on marriage equality when the Republican Party was in control of the State Senate (former Majority Leader Bruno has said so much), and thanks to the slim majority the Democrats currently have (with religious nutjobs like Senator Diaz from the Bronx preventing this to come to a vote) they cannot get the extra Republicans needed to support this law because those individual Republicans are interested in not losing their jobs! The Conservative Party has announced they will not endorse ANY Senator that votes yes to marriage equality. This is not just about civil rights, but also self-preservation for some law makers.
It takes a courageous individual to vote for legislation that pretty much gets them fired. I am not endorsing that decision, I am only stating the reasons why we have yet to have a vote on Marriage Equality in the State Senate even though it has passed the Assembly in 2007 and again in 2009. I don’t talk about states I do not know anything about, but I am well versed with the realities of New York State politics and would be happy to help Empire State Pride Agenda work on a realistic plan to bring marriage equality to New York, instead of the current plan of begging the dysfunctional Democratic leadership to listen to Governor Patterson and vote on it (NEWSFLASH, the Democratic Senators HATE the Governor and don’t care what he says!).
tjr101
David Patterson is a good friend to the LGBT community… unfortunately he is deeply unpopular and no one really listens to him. The same-sex marriage bill has already passed the house and is now in front of the senate where many things die. Patterson can force legislatures to show up in the chamber but he can’t force a vote.
Given the governor’s political standing and the results of last Tuesday, it’s hard to see this passing. Albany could very well go back to the Republicans next year along with the Governor’s mansion if Patterson seeks reelection( and it looks like he intends to). This could mean the criminal, two-face Giuliani can become governor… ugh.
CHIP1218
Worse, Rick Lazio. Guliani won’t commit to running, and Lazio is going to run for either Governor or Senator.
CHIP1218
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/nyregion/11albany.html?_r=1&hp
There will not be a vote this year. Read my posts from the other day on the Governor Patterson calls for vote, and you will see from my statement that there are FIVE Democrats that will not vote for this and ZERO Republicans that will publically admit backing marriage equality was the EXACT reason this has been tabled indefinately. Sen. Duanne LIED! He never had enough votes. Every Senator’s staff I spoke to told me that either Sen. Duanne was bluffing, or he had made under the table deals. Obviously, it was a bluff – his Pokerface is not as good as Lady Gaga’s!
Michael Letterman
Yes bring this to a vote and we’ll see just what happens. End the travesty once and for all time.
homosexuals will NEVER be allowed to marry.
First NY then the rest of the country.