Assembly Passes Gay Marriage Bill in New York; Senate Fight Awaits - NYTimes.com

Assembly Passes Gay Marriage Bill in New York; Senate Fight Awaits - NYTimes.com

By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: May 12, 2009

ALBANY — The State Assembly approved legislation on Tuesday night that would make New York the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage — a pivotal vote that shifts the debate to the State Senate, where gay rights advocates and conservative groups alike are redoubling their efforts.

In a sign of how opinion in Albany has shifted on the issue, several members of the Assembly who voted against the measure in 2007 voted in favor of it on Tuesday.

The final vote was 89 to 52, including the backing of five Republicans.

Supporters of the bill aggressively sought new votes, particularly from Assembly members whose districts lie within Senate districts where a senator’s vote is believed to be in play. As a matter of strategy, same-sex marriage advocates said that they hoped to use those votes as a way to leverage support from senators who are worried that supporting the measure could cost them politically.

“The margin of victory and the balance of where the people come from who voted for this is broadening,” said Daniel J. O’Donnell, a Democratic assemblyman from the Upper West Side who led the effort in the Assembly to gain support for the bill. “The state is demanding that we provide equality, and that’s the message here.”

As the Assembly prepared to vote on Tuesday, advocates on both sides of the issue were gearing up for campaigns to sway undecided senators.

Gay rights groups, led by the Empire State Pride Agenda, will begin the first phase of a statewide advertising campaign on Wednesday. The first advertisement is a 30-second television spot featuring a woman from Cicero, N.Y., just outside Syracuse. She explains that she would like her two daughters — one who is a lesbian, one who is straight — to be treated equally under the law. It will be broadcast in the Albany, Syracuse and Buffalo areas.

The campaign’s organizers are planning more commercials in other cities across the state in the coming weeks, with an emphasis on areas where senators are believed to be on the fence.

“This is about putting a face on the people who are affected by this,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the pride agenda. “Marriage equality should not be a political issue. It is too important; it affects too many people.”

Conservative religious organizations were mobilizing as well. In the hours leading up to the Assembly vote, lobbyists for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group that has sued the state for recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, were holding meetings with lawmakers.

“Certainly we want to keep the pressure on,” said the Rev. Jason J. McGuire, legislative director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. Mr. McGuire’s organization is planning a rally in Albany for its supporters in June, and he added that he would continue meeting with senators in the hope of persuading them to vote against same-sex marriage.

“We all understand — both sides of the issue — that this fight is going to continue in the State Senate,” he said.

The Conservative Party is also applying pressure: it has threatened to strip its party affiliation and its ballot line from any politician who votes for same-sex marriage.

“We can’t look the other way,” said Michael R. Long, the party’s chairman, who added that he had informed the Republican leaders of the Senate and the Assembly of his threat to take away the Conservative ballot line — which in some elections can mean the difference of thousands of votes — from anyone who votes yes on the bill.

“We’re going to work as hard as we can in the next few weeks,” he said. “We intend to do everything we can possible with phone calls, memos, press releases, having our members call senators.”

Despite the conservative pressure, two Republicans spoke on Tuesday about why they dropped their opposition to granting same-sex couples the right to marry. Three Democrats who voted no in 2007 switched their votes to yes.

“There’s that little voice inside of you that tells you when you’ve done something right, and when you’ve done something wrong,” said Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Republican who represents the Hamptons. “That vote just never felt right to me. That little voice kept gnawing away at me.”

Mr. Thiele’s district overlaps with the Senate district of Kenneth P. LaValle, whom gay rights advocates consider to be among the half-dozen or so Republicans open to a yes vote.

Assemblywoman Janet L. Duprey said a lesbian couple who live on her street helped change her mind.

“They are asking only for equal protection under the law,” said Ms. Duprey, a Republican whose district along the Canadian border in the North Country overlaps with the Senate district of Elizabeth Little, another Republican who gay rights supporters believe is within reach.

“They deserve no less than to have the same rights and ability to share their love,” Ms. Duprey added.

Bob Reilly, a Democratic assemblyman whose district includes parts of Saratoga and Albany Counties, apologized to colleagues for voting no in 2007 before voting yes on Tuesday.

Opponents of the bill condemned same-sex marriage as a moral outrage and an affront to religious institutions in New York. Some, like James N. Tedisco, a Republican whose district includes Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, drew comparisons to polygamy.

“I think you can see the kind of slippery slope we’re going down here,” he said. “What I see here is individuals trying to change the definition of a longstanding institution called marriage to fit into their agenda.”

Some supporters insisted the bill was, in fact, nothing earth-shattering.

“We do nothing revolutionary or extraordinary today,” said Richard L. Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester County.

The electronic display in the Assembly chamber that listed the bill number and a brief description suggested as much. It said, “Relates to individuals ability to marry.”