December 2nd, 2009 9:59 pm
Same-sex Marriage Bill Fails
Advocates of legalizing gay marriage in New York State suffered a resounding defeat on Wednesday afternoon.
The New York State Senate rejected a marriage equality bill by a vote of 38 to 24.
All 30 Republicans voted against the legislation.
Eight Democrats went against their conference leadership and voted against legalizing same-sex marriage.
The Democrats who voted “no” are Senator Joseph Addabbo, Senator Darrel Aubertine, Senator Ruben Diaz, Senator Shirley Huntley, Senator Carl Kruger, Senator Hiram Monserrate, Senator George Onorato, are Senator William Stachowski.
Wednesday’s debate lasted about three hours.
Senator Tom Duane, the openly-gay Manhattan lawmaker who championed the legislation, says he feels disappointed and betrayed following the vote.
Duane tells us, “Though I am entitled to and am a person that has some righteous anger, I turn that into action and I believe that the senate will be able to rehabilitate itself.”
Senator Hugh Farley says he would support a bill allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions but calling that union “marriage” is out of the question for him.
“I believe very deeply that marriage should be between a man and a woman and I think most of the general public does and that was a resounding vote,” Farley explains.
Many advocates of same-sex marriage are disappointed following the historic vote but some remain optimistic.
“This is not a community that walks away from a fight,” says Alan Van Cappelle, Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director. “This is not a community that backs down easily. We’re just seven votes shy in the state of millions of people from winning marriage equality and I’m absolutely convinced that the day is coming and it’s going to be sooner than most people think – it’s just not going to be today.”
Supporters of the marriage equality bill are encouraged that Wednesday’s vote showed them where each senator stands.
Beth Relyea says, “Now we know what senators we need to talk to and make them understand that it’s about love and it’s about protecting my family and who we need to get out of office.”
Relyea and Joanne Trinkle have been together for almost ten years.
The Scotia couple has resisted the urged to move out of New York State in order to be able to tie the knot legally.
“I grew up in this area,” explains Relyea. “I like this area. It’s just that the people that are representing me aren’t representing me.”
Robert Voorheis and Michael Sabatino have been together for 31 years.
The Yonkers couple got married in Canada and was at the center of the court battle to get New York State to recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states and countries.
“I think it is a disgrace and a travesty that bigotry won out today,” says Voorheis, referring to Wednesday’s senate vote.
Voorheis says it’s a victory that the bill made it to the floor for debate.
He says he’s emboldened.
“We are going to continue to fight year after year,” he says. “We are going to do our best to get those senators out of office that need to be removed. They need to retire. They need to be replaced by people who understand that civil rights belong to all citizens of New York State – not the ones that are just like them.”
While supporters of legalizing same-sex marriage say the change is inevitable, opponents disagree.
“Actually, the vote came out higher than we even anticipated so I think, once again, it demonstrates today was a good day for marriage in New York,” says Reverend Jason McGuire, of New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation.
After the bill was defeated, Governor David Paterson visited the third floor of the Capitol to try to bolster the spirits of the defeated supporters of same-sex marriage.
“Let’s get up tomorrow and redouble our efforts,” Paterson says. “Now we know who we have to talk to.”
Some lawmakers are optimistic that they’ll be able to hold another vote on marriage equality soon but the general consensus is that the current senate will never pass such legislation.