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| THANK YOU GOV. CUOMO Rochester residents thank Gov. Cuomo for his leadership on Marriage Equality on June 25, 2011 at Washington Sq.Park. photo: Ove Overmyer |
The 33-29 vote is an enormous victory for first-year Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged during last fall’s campaign to push for gay marriage. It comes after an intense public and private lobbying campaign from a wide cast of politicians, labor unions, celebrities and athletes, including Lady Gaga and former President Bill Clinton.
Cuomo signed the bill almost immediately. The bill will become law in 30 days.
The state-by-state battle over gay marriage has become a contentious U.S. social issue ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections. Now, New York joins Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia to allow same-sex marriage.
Four states including Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey have approved gay civil unions. Same-sex marriage is specifically banned in 39 states.
In California, a judge last year overturned a ban on gay marriage. No weddings can take place while the decision is being appealed. It could set national policy if the case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
Three states -- New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island-- do not explicitly prohibit gay marriage but have not endorsed it, according to DOMA Watch, an advocacy group that supports limiting marriage to men and women.
This marks the second time that the GOP has stamped its will on the most important gay rights legislation in New York state history. In 2002, the New York senate Republican majority approved SONDA, the Sexual Orientation Nondiscrimination Act. Then Republican Gov. George Pataki signed that bill into law. It became effective on January 16, 2003, and protects individuals who are discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation from that date forward.
The NYS Assembly passed a gay marriage bill four times-- most recently on June 15. Former Rochester Mayor and now Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy presided over the last session of the senate when the marriage bill finally passed the legislature.
Suspense and drama up until the last minute
After weeks of suspense, Sen. Stephen Saland, a Poughkeepsie Republican announced himself on the senate floor as the 32nd senator to back the legislation, tipping the balance in favor of it passing. Saland defined his vote as a matter of conscience during a stirring legal defense of an amendment exempting religious organizations from the law. The Voice Reporter suspected Saland would be a supporter of the bill more than a week ago.
“I have defined doing the right thing as treating all persons with equality,” Saland said. “And that equality includes the definition of marriage. I fear that to do otherwise would fly in the face of my upbringing.”
Saland was joined in announcing his newfound support for gay marriage on the senate floor by Mark Grisanti, a first-term Buffalo Republican who did not declare how he would vote until his floor speech Friday night. Grisanti had been against same-sex marriage when he was elected last year, but changed his mind after an intense lobbying campaign.
“I cannot legally come up with an argument against same-sex marriage,” Grisanti said.
Two other GOP senators came out early to support the bill, including Rochester area Sen. Jim Alesi and Sen. Roy McDonald.
The senate bill’s sponsor, openly gay Democrat Tom Duane, introduced the legislation with a tearful speech detailing his life from when he came out to his Catholic parents as a teen to his adult life fighting for gay rights and his partner.
“Marriage says that we are family,” Duane said. “Louis and I are family. And marriage strengthens all family. It’s going to strengthen my family and all New York families.”
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| Rochester residents gathered for a candlelight vigil in a downtown park before the senate vote on June 24, 2011. photo: Ove Overmyer |
It was not clear until late Friday afternoon whether a vote would even take place on the matter. Rochester residents gathered downtown at a candlelight vigil and waited anxiously for news from Albany. The crowd grew to almost 200, where attendees sang songs, lit candles and prayed.
But shortly before 6 p.m., the state senate’s Republican majority leader, Dean Skelos, announced he would call a vote on the legislation. That was good news to the crowd, who burst into spontaneous applause. The message was clear-- Cuomo would never let a bill come to the floor of the senate if it did not have enough votes to pass.
While party leaders almost always direct their members how to vote in the New York legislature, Skelos said decisions on the gay marriage bill would be “a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate.”
Local reaction from elected officials and labor leaders
Minutes after the senate voted on the bill, Rochester area NYS Assembly member Harry Bronson (D-131) talked with The Voice Reporter.
He said, “Like many of you, it is difficult to put into words the emotional tide engulfing me at this historical moment. For years, many of us have fought to have our love, our commitments and our relationships treated with the respect and dignity opposite sex couples enjoy.”
He added, “It is a proud day for New York as we now recognize the legitimate union of two loving adults without discrimination. With the passage of marriage equality, we will not longer be treated as second class citizens. With pride, I thank you for giving me the privilege to be part of this landmark legislation that honors our ideals that all people are to be treated as equals.”
Jim Bertolone, president of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, sees the passage of a marriage equality bill in New York as a watershed moment in American civil rights history.
He told the Voice Reporter, "Today, local labor including our LBGT brothers and sisters celebrate the passage of Marriage Equality in New York state. Just as the civil rights legislation extended human rights and gave hope to young African-Americans for a future of dignity and equality, this victory continues the forward evolutionary progress of freedom and democracy for all."
He added, "With the backing of Senator Jim Alesi, a longtime supporter of working people, the Republican barrier was broken on marriage equality. Marriage Equality of New York, our local chapter of Pride at Work, and many other labor unions and progressive coalition groups appealed to Senator Alesi's heart and sense of justice. He individually broke the logjam. We thank him and will stand by him when those radical Republicans and religious conservatives in his party target him. We believe you cannot be against labor unions and at the same time for civil rights."
Area labor activists feel resolve; some warn the fight is far from over
Hours before the senate vote, Rochester Equality founder and long-time community activist Anne Tischer, along with her wife Bess Watts, took the opportunity to tell hundreds of marriage equality supporters a personal story about how they became accidental activists.
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| Bess Watts photo: Janice Gavin |
Watts, a local labor leader, who is president of CSEA Monroe County Local 828 and the president of the Rochester and Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride At Work, said “This is the culmination of years of activism by labor folks who have always been on the forefront of equality for LGBT people. It really takes everyone to create social change and I'm proud to be a part of an organization that models inclusion.”
Deacon Mary Ann Sanford of Unity Fellowship Church of Rochester and a Pride At Work, AFL-CIO member, who is married to CSEA Local 828 V.P. T. Judith Johnson, took a more pragmatic look at the nature of politics.
She told The Voice Reporter, “It’s about time. I am not real big on handing out awards for politicians doing their job and representing me which they promised to do when I voted for them-- but in this case it took courage. I applaud them for making history.”
Despite all the celebration surrounding this landmark legislation, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand reminded New Yorkers and the nation there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done to achieve full equality.
In an email to constituents dated June 25, Sen. Gillibrand said, “The Defense of Marriage Act is truly damaging. Every day, thousands of legally married LGBT men and women around the country are unable to take advantage of rights and privileges-- from hospital visitation to inheritance rights to health benefits-- that straight married couples take for granted. We must end this unjust policy.”
She added, “But much like the historic vote last night in New York, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and our collective grassroots advocacy. And I believe it’s going to take telling more of our stories.”
To view a slide show of images from the Rochester vigil (June 24) and victory celebration (June 25) after Gov. Cuomo signed the bill into law, you can go here.
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