Debate Builds Over Same-Sex Marriage
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- November
- 9
The debate over legalizing same-sex marriage in New York will heat up over the next day as Gov. David Paterson has put the measure on tomorrow’s special session agenda.
It remains unclear whether the bill will make it to the Senate floor, and if does whether it would get approved. The Assembly passed the measure in June.
Paterson said Friday that he expects the measure would pass if it’s brought to a vote.
“I certainly think if it was put on the floor it would be a very close vote,” he told Gannett’s Albany bureau. “My belief is that it would pass. But I think it’s one of those issues that you only really find out when people vote on it.”
To boost the bill’s chances, the Empire State Pride Agenda this morning put out the names of 700 clergy and lay leaders in the state who support the legislation. The list is below.
But Jason McGuire, legislative director for New Yorkers For Constitutional Freedoms, said the bill’s chance of passage has gotten less likely after the results of the 23rd Congressional District race, in which Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava—who voted for the marriage equality bill in the Assembly in June—was pushed out of the race by conservatives.
“It’s a desperate attempt right now,” McGuire said. “Those who are advocating for same-sex marriage realize that the window of opportunity is quickly closing and I would argue it’s closed.”
He added, that “I just don’t think there are any moderate Democrats or Republicans that can afford to vote for same-sex marriage now.”
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am by Joseph Spector.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
