NY Daily News: 'Wanted' A few good senators On gay marriage
It's not every day - or every year, or every decade - that Albany lawmakers get a chance to do something really big, something that just might inscribe their names in the history books.
The fight for gay marriage is one of those bona fide legacy moments. And for pols who want to make their descendants proud, it's time to stand up and be counted.
The issue will come to a head over the next two months as gay rights groups mount what promises to be very well-organized and effective campaign for marriage equality in New York.
A victory in Albany would mark a huge leap forward for the larger cause. Although same-sex marriage is already legal in five other states and the District of Columbia, New York's population outstrips all of them combined.
The legislation is guaranteed a warm reception in the Democrat-led Assembly, which has already voted to legalize gay marriage twice - in 2007 and 2009.
Gov. Cuomo is also fully onboard.
All that's missing is a few good senators. Six, to be exact.
When the Senate took up the gay marriage bill in December 2009, it failed, 38 to 24 - with all 30 Republicans and eight Democrats voting no.
In last fall's election, supporters of the measure gained two additional yes votes - for a total of 26. They need 32 to win. And with Republicans now controlling a bare majority of the house, at least a few of those votes will have to come from the GOP.
What this math adds up to is a rare opportunity for legislators to be heroes - to show real courage even if it means putting their careers on the line.
State legislators talk about acting that way a lot. But 99.9% of what they actually do is rubber-stamp ugly compromises hammered out by the party leaders, microtune existing statutes and haggle over silly stuff like picking an official state vegetable. (Honest. The current debate comes down to corn versus onions.)
Needless to say, deciding whether America's founding principle - that "all men are created equal" - should apply to gay and lesbian New Yorkers is not just another vote around Albany. It calls for some big-picture thinking. It calls for leadership.
It calls for more legislators with the guts of Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, one of a handful of Republicans to support gay marriage back in 2007. She represents a chunk of the Adirondacks, one of the most conservative areas of the state. But as she explained in moving speech on the floor, she also has a grown son who is gay.
"Let's search our hearts tonight and do the right thing," she said.
She left the chamber that night convinced that her political career was over. But two-thirds of the emails and phone calls she got afterward were positive. Her constituents either agreed with her vote or respected her for standing on principle. She lost the Conservative line, but she was unopposed in the following election.
Of course, senators are entitled to their deeply held convictions on this issue, religious or otherwise. What they should not do is vote no out of political cravenness - or silently sit out the debate, as most opponents did in 2009.
Surely, there must be six more senators who, like Sayward, have a family member or friend or colleague who's gay. Who realize that this is not a mere lifestyle choice, but who gays are as human beings. Who understand that government has no business telling people whom to love or whom they can marry. Who see that the real issue is supporting the values of equality, family and commitment.
This is a moment for senators to stop and think about what they will say when their grandchildren ask them where they stood when one of the great civil rights struggles of the day came to a vote in June 2011.
Will they proudly be able to say they came down on the right side of history?
Or will they mumble something about not wanting to lose that all-important Conservative line on the 2012 ballot?
And make no mistake - those grandchildren will be very clear about the rights and wrongs of this question. Polls show that young people are far more comfortable with homosexuality than their elders are.
In a generation or so, having two daddies or two mommies will seem as normal as carrying your entire record collection around in your shirt pocket - or voting for an African-American President.
whammond@nydailynews.com
The fight for gay marriage is one of those bona fide legacy moments. And for pols who want to make their descendants proud, it's time to stand up and be counted.
The issue will come to a head over the next two months as gay rights groups mount what promises to be very well-organized and effective campaign for marriage equality in New York.
A victory in Albany would mark a huge leap forward for the larger cause. Although same-sex marriage is already legal in five other states and the District of Columbia, New York's population outstrips all of them combined.
The legislation is guaranteed a warm reception in the Democrat-led Assembly, which has already voted to legalize gay marriage twice - in 2007 and 2009.
Gov. Cuomo is also fully onboard.
All that's missing is a few good senators. Six, to be exact.
When the Senate took up the gay marriage bill in December 2009, it failed, 38 to 24 - with all 30 Republicans and eight Democrats voting no.
In last fall's election, supporters of the measure gained two additional yes votes - for a total of 26. They need 32 to win. And with Republicans now controlling a bare majority of the house, at least a few of those votes will have to come from the GOP.
What this math adds up to is a rare opportunity for legislators to be heroes - to show real courage even if it means putting their careers on the line.
State legislators talk about acting that way a lot. But 99.9% of what they actually do is rubber-stamp ugly compromises hammered out by the party leaders, microtune existing statutes and haggle over silly stuff like picking an official state vegetable. (Honest. The current debate comes down to corn versus onions.)
Needless to say, deciding whether America's founding principle - that "all men are created equal" - should apply to gay and lesbian New Yorkers is not just another vote around Albany. It calls for some big-picture thinking. It calls for leadership.
It calls for more legislators with the guts of Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, one of a handful of Republicans to support gay marriage back in 2007. She represents a chunk of the Adirondacks, one of the most conservative areas of the state. But as she explained in moving speech on the floor, she also has a grown son who is gay.
"Let's search our hearts tonight and do the right thing," she said.
She left the chamber that night convinced that her political career was over. But two-thirds of the emails and phone calls she got afterward were positive. Her constituents either agreed with her vote or respected her for standing on principle. She lost the Conservative line, but she was unopposed in the following election.
Of course, senators are entitled to their deeply held convictions on this issue, religious or otherwise. What they should not do is vote no out of political cravenness - or silently sit out the debate, as most opponents did in 2009.
Surely, there must be six more senators who, like Sayward, have a family member or friend or colleague who's gay. Who realize that this is not a mere lifestyle choice, but who gays are as human beings. Who understand that government has no business telling people whom to love or whom they can marry. Who see that the real issue is supporting the values of equality, family and commitment.
This is a moment for senators to stop and think about what they will say when their grandchildren ask them where they stood when one of the great civil rights struggles of the day came to a vote in June 2011.
Will they proudly be able to say they came down on the right side of history?
Or will they mumble something about not wanting to lose that all-important Conservative line on the 2012 ballot?
And make no mistake - those grandchildren will be very clear about the rights and wrongs of this question. Polls show that young people are far more comfortable with homosexuality than their elders are.
In a generation or so, having two daddies or two mommies will seem as normal as carrying your entire record collection around in your shirt pocket - or voting for an African-American President.
whammond@nydailynews.com
Bill Hammond's column appears every Tuesday in the New York Daily News. Hammond, an Albany-based editorial writer and columnist at the Daily News, has covered shenanigans at the state Capitol since 1998. He joined The News in 2005 after stints at the New York Sun, the Daily Gazette of Schenectady and the Post-Star of Glens Falls. He lives in Saratoga Springs.
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