Same-Sex Marriage Bill Voted Down in NY State Senate

Quote :

The New York state Senate on Wednesday killed a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in the state, voting 38-24 against a measure that had the support of the state Assembly and Gov. David Paterson.

Supporters predicted a close vote going into the day's debate and said they would bring the measure back for "as many do-overs as is necessary to get us home," as Majority Leader Pedro Espada put it before the vote.

"There's never a good time for civil rights. There's never, ever, ever, ever a good time for civil rights. I know. I get that," said Sen. Tom Duane, a Manhattan Democrat who was the chamber's first openly gay member. "But the paradox is, it's always the time to be on the right side of history."

Only one senator spoke against the bill during Wednesday's debate. Sen. Ruben Diaz argued that the issue should be put to a statewide referendum and pointed out that 31 states have banned same-sex marriages in statewide votes.

Diaz, a Democrat and a Pentecostal minister from the Bronx, said many New York religious leaders opposed the bill and called on Republicans to join him in defending "traditional values."
"If we take it to the people, the people oppose it," he said.

But a Marist College poll released Wednesday found that 51 percent of New Yorkers questioned favored legalizing same-sex marriage, with 42 percent opposed. A June poll by Qunnipiac University poll reported a similar spread of 51 percent to 41 percent.

And Sen. Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat, said that most of the 31 states Diaz cited as voting against same-sex marriage "at one time or another sold blacks into slavery."

"Because the majority is in one place does not mean they're in the right place," he said. "We're in the position right now where we have to lead the country to the right place."

Passage would have made New York the sixth U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage and only the second, along with New Hampshire, to do so without a court's prodding.

Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and Iowa also have legalized marriages between gay couples, but federal law bars recognition of those unions across state lines.

I'm surprised by this but hearing that (correct me if I'm wrong) the Republicans are a majority in the State Senate, I'm not. I'm shocked.