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News: NY Senate Approves Gay Marriage
Member Since: 3/4/2011
Posts: 3,981
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NY Senate Approves Gay Marriage
So, it's official now I guess. 
Still a long way to go for our south neighbors, but a good step 
Quote:
ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples can wed, and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born.
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Hans Pennink/Associated Press
Gay marriage supporters and opponents rallied in the hallways at the capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Friday.
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Times Topic: Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships
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The same-sex marriage bill was approved on a 33 to 29 vote, as four Republican state senators joined 29 Democrats in voting for the bill. The Senate galleries were so packed with supporters and opponents that the fire marshals closed them off. And along the Great Western Staircase, outside the Senate chamber, about 100 demonstrators chanted and waved placards throughout the night — separated by a generation, a phalanx of state troopers and 10 feet of red marble.
“Support traditional marriage,” read signs held by opponents. “Love is love, Vote Yes,” declared those in the hands of the far more youthful group of people who supported it.
Senate approval was the final hurdle for the same-sex marriage legislation, which is strongly supported by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and was approved last week by the Assembly. Mr. Cuomo is expected to sign the measure soon, and the law will go into effect 30 days later, meaning that same-sex couples could begin marrying in New York by midsummer.
Passage of same-sex marriage here followed a daunting run of defeats in other states where voters barred same-sex marriage by legislative action, constitutional amendment or referendum. Just five states currently permit same-sex marriage: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia.
The approval of same-sex marriage represented a reversal of fortune for gay-rights advocates, who just two years ago suffered a humiliating, and unexpected, defeat when a same-sex marriage bill was easily defeated in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. This year, with the Senate controlled by Republicans, the odds against passage of same-sex marriage appeared long.
But the unexpected victory had an unlikely champion: Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged last year to support same-sex marriage but whose early months in office were dominated by intense battles with lawmakers and some labor unions over spending cuts.
Mr. Cuomo made same-sex marriage one of his top priorities for the year and deployed his top aide to coordinate the efforts of a half-dozen local gay-rights organizations whose feuding and disorganization had in part been blamed for the 2009 defeat. The new coalition of same-sex marriage supporters also brought in one of Mr. Cuomo’s trusted campaign operatives to supervise a $3 million television and radio campaign aimed at persuading a handful of Republican and Democratic senators to drop their opposition and support same-sex marriage.For Senate Republicans, even bringing the measure to the floor was a freighted decision. Most of the Republicans firmly oppose same-sex marriage on moral grounds, and many of them also had political concerns, fearing that allowing same-sex marriage to pass on their watch would embitter conservative voters and cost the Republican Party its one-seat majority in the Senate. Leaders of the state’s Conservative Party — the support of which many Republican lawmakers depend on to win election — warned that they would oppose in legislative elections next year any Republican senator who voted for same-sex marriage.
But after days of agonized discussion capped by a marathon nine-hour, closed-door debate on Friday, Republicans came to a fateful decision. The full Senate would be allowed to vote on same-sex marriage, the majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, said Friday afternoon, and each member would be left to vote according to his conscience.
"The days of just bottling up things, and using these as excuses not to have votes — as far as I’m concerned as leader, its over with," said Mr. Skelos, a Long Island Republican.
Several senators delivered impassioned speeches about the vote.
The lone Democratic opponent, Senator Ruben Diaz of the Bronx, said it was “unbelievable” that the Republican Party, “the party that always defended family values,” had allowed same-sex marriage to pass.
“God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage, a long time ago,” he said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/ny...rk-senate.html
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Member Since: 1/10/2011
Posts: 1,422
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**** YEAH NEW YORK
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/14/2010
Posts: 78,921
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Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 42,506
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CAUSE BABY, WE WERE BORN THIS WAY! 
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Member Since: 6/6/2011
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Member Since: 6/10/2010
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Member Since: 10/9/2008
Posts: 9,835
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Member Since: 6/6/2011
Posts: 29,899
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Quote:
Originally posted by Remixed
CAUSE BABY, WE WERE BORN THIS WAY! |
not all of us...
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Member Since: 7/29/2010
Posts: 6,509
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Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 28,061
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Time to marry some old and crusty New York millionaire.
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Member Since: 8/6/2010
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Member Since: 2/9/2008
Posts: 32,819
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Quote:
Honestly, when I first heard that there were rumors out there about me being gay I thought, Wow someone must really hate me.
There’s nothing wrong with being gay, but I just couldn’t understand why someone would make up lies like that. I remember speaking to Jay-Z about it and he was like, ‘Look, man you haven’t made it until someone says you’re gay.”
Okay, so because I can respect a woman’s shoe game, and not to mention that I’ve bought a few pairs of shoes in the past for the women in my life, that makes me gay? That’s hilarious.”
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Amazing So tolerant and forward!
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Member Since: 10/2/2010
Posts: 1,764
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sahn
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Banned
Member Since: 10/26/2010
Posts: 12,889
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They'd better give this to me so the thousands of men out there who want me can have hope of proposing knowing we can get married in some back swamp chapel.
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Member Since: 3/4/2011
Posts: 11,853
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WOOOOOOOOt This is good congrats everyone!
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 2/19/2003
Posts: 34,484
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Quote:
Originally posted by eli's_rhythm
Amazing So tolerant and forward! |
**** you Eli. **** you. I was honestly trying to figure out where that was in the article. 
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Member Since: 4/17/2011
Posts: 6,399
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This is a really beautiful thing and I hope more states follow suit.
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Member Since: 4/17/2011
Posts: 6,399
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Quote:
Originally posted by eli's_rhythm
Amazing So tolerant and forward! |
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Member Since: 6/25/2010
Posts: 18,931
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Cuz if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
Don’t be mad once you see that he want it
If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
wo oh ooh oh oh ooh oh oh ooh oh oh oh
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Member Since: 2/9/2008
Posts: 32,819
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ace Reject
**** you Eli. **** you. I was honestly trying to figure out where that was in the article. |
Quote:
Originally posted by Shame♥
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