What was the result of the gay marriage bill vote in the New York State Senate?”
New York lawmakers rejected a bill Wednesday that would have made their state the sixth to allow gay marriage, stunning advocates who weathered a similar decision by Maine voters just last month. The New York measure needed 32 votes to pass and failed by a wider-than-expected margin, falling eight votes short in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Gov. David Paterson, perhaps the bill’s strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it. After the vote, Paterson called Wednesday one of his saddest days in 20 years of public service and he criticized senators who he said support gay marriage but “didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to vote for it. Senate sponsor Thomas Duane, a Manhattan Democrat and the Legislature’s first openly gay member, expressed anger and disappointment. “I wasn’t expecting betrayal,” he said. During debate, Sen. Ruben Diaz, a conservative minister from the Bronx, led the mostly Republican opposition. “If you put this is
From nytimes.com: New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill ALBANY — The New York State Senate decisively rejected a bill on Wednesday that would have allowed gay couples to wed, providing a major victory for those who oppose same-sex marriage and underscoring the deep and passionate divisions surrounding the issue. The 38-to-24 vote startled proponents of the bill and signaled that political momentum, at least right now, had shifted against same-sex marriage, even in heavily Democratic New York. It followed more than a year of lobbying by gay rights organizations, which steered close to $1 million into New York legislative races to boost support for the measure. Senators who voted against the measure said the public was gripped by economic anxiety and remained uneasy about changing the state’s definition of marriage. Read more at the link below.
