Latest on NY Gay Marriage-LOoKs GoOd!
NEWS ALBANY BUREAU — Four state senators flipped their positions Monday to now support legalizing gay marriages in New York, putting the matter within two votes of passage in the State Senate.
"This is going to generate a lot of momentum," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said, surrounded by Senate Democrats in a news conference at the Capitol.Less than two hours after three Democrats announced they would support gay marriage rights, a Senate Republican from the Rochester area emerged from a meeting with Cuomo to announce that he too is changing his position.
"This year I am voting my heart and my conscience," said Sen. James Alesi, who said that in 2009 he "voted politically rather than I na way that in my heart and soul I felt I should have voted."
"It's equality. That's a basic right of living in America," Alesi said, who added that his vote is contingent upon language in the bill that states religious organizations are "not forced to perform ceremonies."
That language was already in the 2009 bill.
The measure, not yet introduced by Cuomo, needs 32 votes to pass. The three Democratic senators — Carl Kruger of Brooklyn and Joseph Addabbo Jr. and Shirley Huntley of Queens — all voted against same-sex marriage when it last came up for a vote in 2009.
"What we're about to do is redefine what the American family is," Kruger said. "And that's a good thing. The world around us evolves."
With a week to go in the 2011 legislative session, forces on both sides of the controversial issue are stepping up lobbying efforts at the Capitol. The measure is likely to pass in the Assembly, though not by the same margins as the 2009 vote. Assembly leaders say they will not take it up unless the Senate passes the bill first. "It's all up to the Senate," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said the issue will be put before his Republican conference in a closed-door session either Tuesday or Wednesday. Several Republicans who were identified as ready to flip to a yes vote insisted on Monday they had not changed their positions since 2009.
Among Western New York senators, only Sen. Tim Kennedy of Buffalo, the sole Democrat in the local delegation in the 62-member chamber, said he will vote yes.
"This is an issue of social progress," Cuomo said.
It was the first time back in the spotlight for Kruger at the Capitol since he was indicted in March on a number of federal corruption charges.
The sole Democrat against the gay marriage bill is Sen. Ruben Diaz, a Bronx Democrat. A couple of Senate Republicans say they are undecided on the issue.
The lawmakers changing their positions Monday say constituent attitudes in their districts have morphed. Addabbo said 400 people checked in on the issue in 2009, with most opposed; this time, he has heard from more than 6,000 people, with nearly 5,000 saying they want the marriage rights for gays.
Cuomo said he would be meeting with gay marriage advocates this afternoon and decide whether to introduce a bill. In the past, he has said he did not want to formally submit a bill unless its passage was certain. He said the bill he is considering is "roughly" the same bill as rejected in 2009; he did not elaborate.
"I believe the votes are there," Cuomo said today.
Comments