Governor Immediately Signs Bill Into Law Keeping Campaign Promise

By James Michaels

ALBANY, NY – Late Friday evening, June 24th, the New York State Senate held a vote legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. The Democratic-controlled State Assembly had already passed the measure; the Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo strongly supported it which put the final decision in the hands of the Republican-controlled State Senate, which had tried to put off the vote until the last possible moment. The Republicans held a one-vote majority in the Senate. New York became the sixth state in the country joining New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and Iowa, along with the District of Columbia, which approved marriage equality for same sex couples. However, New York is the largest state where same-sex couples could be legally wed, doubling the number of possible same sex marriages in the county.  The final vote was 33 to 29. 29 of the 30 Democratic Senators voted for the measure and 4 of the Republican Senators voted in favor.

The last time the question of marriage equality was brought up in the state December 2009 and, at that point, the Senate was controlled by Democrats.  The measure was defeated when not a single Republican voted for it and eight Democrats voted against it.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the marriage equality bill into law a few hours later, shortly before midnight, foregoing the usual 10-day grace period between the passing of a bill by the New York Senate and the signing by the governor. Same-sex marriages in New York can now begin in 30 days.

Cuomo had promised the LGBT community that if he was elected Governor, marriage equality would be a top priority and he kept that promise. Cuomo went so far as to lobby Republican Senators from more moderate districts that if they voted for marriage equality, he would help them raise funds for their re-election should they be challenged by more conservative members of their party in their primaries. Cuomo received over $1 million in pledges from businesses and Wall Street for those primaries.

The chatter around the Senate all week was that if the bill goes to the floor for a vote, it would get passed. However, many were afraid that if it went into conference, the GOP would kill the bill. Republicans were already afraid that their base might retaliate against them and Tea Party protesters against the bill held up signs saying that if the bill were allowed to come up for a vote, they would be kicked out of office. Also, the Republicans wanted more than one GOP Senator to vote on the bill, so no one person would be held responsible for its passage.

Immediately prior to the final vote on the measure, the Senate voted on an amendment allowing religious exemptions, not requiring churches and religious institutions to perform same-sex marriages. The exemptions were already in the bill. However, the Republicans members wanted to include specific language that if a religious institution did not want to marry a same-sex couple, they will not in any way face a discrimination lawsuit. There was also added an insurability clause that if a judge or court in the future were to strike down the religious exemption, the entire bill would be stricken.

Earlier in the day, New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long conceded saying that he was sure the bill would pass the Senate, telling the Weekly Standard, “I know they’ve got the 32nd vote and I think they’ve muscled two more people. Hopefully all of that blows up but I don’t see that happening.”

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. However, as the night wore on and the time to vote came close, opponents to the bill started to dwindle away as more people in favor of the bill showed up in support. The hallways outside the Senate chambers also filled with supporters.

That night happened to be the start of the city’s annual Gay Pride Weekend and more LGBT people than usual were in New York City for the festivities. Many people were expected to be in the streets of New York making their feelings known about the bill whether it passed or failed.

When the final vote was announced, cheers poured out from the visitors’ gallery and could be heard down the hallways where hundreds more gathered.  Later that evening, a special celebration was held in front of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Stonewall is the bar in New York City and the site of the Stonewall riots which started on June 28, 1969 and is considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.
Also, later that evening, the Empire State Building was lit up in rainbow colors.

The positive economic impact on passing marriage equality could be great. The New York State Comptroller’s Office estimates that $142 million will be added to New York City’s economy alone, with an additional $184 million added to the rest of

the state. Unlike the laws of Massachusetts, which have residency requirements in order to get a marriage license, the New York law has no such provision, so Americans from around the country can come to New York to get married starting in 30 days.