New York Senate has the votes to pass marriage equality!

[FreeState]

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/13529/duane-gay-marriage-has-senate-gop-supporters

Duane: Gay marriage has Senate GOP supporters
April 14, 2009 at 4:05 pm by Irene Jay Liu
Sen. Tom Duane said that he is confident that a bill to legalize same-sex marriage will pass this year, and that it will pass with bipartisan support.

Gov. David Paterson is expected to introduce a program bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in New York State. It will be identical to the bill first introduced by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007 which passed at the end of the 2007 legislative session, according to Assembly bill sponsor Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell.

O’Donnell will take up the bill as lead sponsor in the Assembly; Duane will take up the bill in the Senate and said he is confident that it will pass this year.

“I always knew that this would happen with bipartisan support. And it is always about building more and more support. We are not going to do this just with a majority, but a majority with extra votes,” said Duane.

“I don’t have the exact time frame. But it will be this year,” he added.

snip...

Duane said that he did not think that those unnamed senators would renege on their commitment to him, based on Republicans’ history of passing bills such as the hate crimes bill of 2000 and the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA), which passed in 2002.

“I really look at the history with what happened with hate crimes and what happened with SONDA. Republicans said they would vote for the bills and Republicans did vote for those bills,” Duane said.

..snip...

[polichick]

1. Great news! I'm glad there are still a few fair-minded Republicans.

[Jamastiene]

2. K&R

[customerserviceguy]

3. The biggest obstacle

to equal marriage in NY is the cultural Catholics who will flip you off on the Thruway, yet get down piously on their knees on Sunday. The new archbishop has vowed to fight equal marriage as one of his first initiatives.

Hopefully, NY Catholics will just continue to ignore the celibates in dresses, like they do the other six days per week.

[romantico]

4. So

How soon could gay marriage be legal in New York? Before Summer? End of summer? Fall? Before Christmas? Any idea?

[customerserviceguy]

9. My sense is that it will come down to the Assembly

The NY Senate seems to be sufficiently on board with this. About a hour away from NYC, much of the rest of NY state is almost like any other part of rural America. You have people that don't want to be seen as being prejudiced, and are not into being discriminatory, but you have an equal number of people who still think that if we make homosexuality illegal again, their kids will not take it up.

It's representatives from those places that will make or break this, and it all depends on who those Assembly members hear from, the tolerant folks, or the intolerant ones. There are a LOT of nominal Catholics running around out there who might be too tempted to listen to the hate spewing from the hierarchy of their church, even fearful that their local Our Lady of Perpetual Conception church will be forced to marry same-sex couples. If they paused for a minute, they'll remember that there have been no lawsuits to force their church to marry people who have been divorced.

[Smarmie Doofus]

11. Not really. The assembly voted YES 85-61 in 2007.

I think our numbers will be bigger this time. The problem has always been in the Senate.... which is in control of the DEMS for the first time this year.

But just barely. And four DEMS have already anounced NO. Which makes me wonder where the necessary republican votes are going to come from.

I can't picture it. Perhaps Sen Duane is counting on the GOV to swing a deal with the renegade DEMS. That's the only way I see it happening.

[customerserviceguy]

16. You're right

I was bass-ackward on the Senate and the Assembly. Posting before coffee again...

[LuvNewcastle]

17. heehee

"Our Lady of Perpetual Conception":rofl:

[customerserviceguy]

18. That was the family nickname for cousin Christine

I grew up in this big Catholic family, and although Chris was one of nine kids, all were born during the 40's, 50's and early 60's, when that sort of thing was fashionable. She married in 1967, and had six kids of her own, none of the other cousins on Mom's side of the family went over three, including me.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

19. I wouldn't worry too much about them

The Church has issues with gay marriage. Most Catholics not so much. When LostinVA and I got married, probably about 90% of the guests were active Catholics.

[Chovexani]

5. Oh please let it happen

It would mean my GF can finally move here to be with me, and get access to better medical care. We are still doing the long distance thing because she's listed as her gay male ex's DP at work (they were together a long time, and he ended up coming out later on. They are still friends and roommates, though). It's the only way she can get any access to health benefits. But they make them jump through hoops because her home state doesn't have a DP law. Before I got into a serious relationship, I always knew the law was fucked up but I really had no idea just how badly it got for couples trying to actually be serious with each other. With all the bitching and moaning about how promiscuous Teh Gayz are, you'd think they would encourage us to settle down by not making it so hard!

I think, if this law passes, a lot of you guys would be invited to a wedding at the local Ren Faire. :D

[ruggerson]

7. I've always liked Paterson

I don't get the bad rap he's gotten the last few months. If he gets this done, as a signature issue, history will treat him very kindly.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Duane's a realist so there must be something here. but......

I can't imagine who the four + republicans needed to pass the bill would be.

[DarkTirade]

8. Huh. Not only can I say "Boy I'm glad I left FL", but maybe I'll start saying, "Boy I'm glad I came

to NY" too. :P

[Chovexani]

14. YOU

Start picking out fancy lad doublets, if I get married you're going to be my Best Knight. :D

[DarkTirade]

15. Screw that, right now I'm working on some forest elven themed leather armor.

:P

[Chovexani]

21. Now we're talking!

:D

[DarkTirade]

24. Actually I'm just starting with bracers. Wanna get the style down.

I was gonna make three sets of bracers. One with green anodized chainmail, for an elven warrior. No sneaking about, so no need to worry about the chainmail making noise. Then another for a ranger/archer, with a flat section on the wrist and no metal more than a few studs. Then another with no metal for a mage.

... I know, I'm a nerd. :P

[RetiredTrotskyite]

10. K&R

Great news!

[ThomCat]

12. I hope we come through this year.

:)

Come on NY!

[closeupready]

13. We probably won't, but with Bruno gone, the likelihood is better.

:)

[Rhiannon12866]

20. I really think Gov. Paterson is putting his political future on the line with this...

He has a pretty low approval rating just now (about the same as Bush*'s -30%), so kudos to him for having the courage to support equality and civil rights! And to Schumer and Gillibrand, as well! :patriot:

[Chovexani]

22. The haters already have their talking points

It's just a distraction from our bad state economy, blah blah blah.

Meanwhile the people behind Prop H8 are gearing up to invade our state. Those inbred motherfuckers are going to find out in a hurry that New York is not California. We don't stand for that bullshit here. Believe that.

[Muttocracy]

26. Seems to me the Republicans here are more of the fiscal conservative sort

and they're more libertarian/don't care as much on social issues. If they don't have to pay for gay marriage, and if they can even make money off of it, maybe they can be convinced.

[David__77]

23. The way to do this is QUICKLY!

They better force the legislation through in a very speedy manner and not allow opponents time to mobilize support or scare fence sitters. Vermont was a model in that regard.

[Q3JR4]

25. New York Marriage Bill Gets GOP Boost

The Log Cabin Republicans announced Tuesday that the GOP's New York leadership in both the state senate and assembly are going to allow Republican legislators to make "conscience votes" on Gov. David Paterson's marriage-equality bill rather than pressuring party members to vote against it, giving the legislation a much stronger likelihood of picking up Republican votes in both chambers.

<snip>

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid79898.asp

What do you know, the Log Cabin Republicans are good for something....

Q3JR4.