Great news late last night. A number of sources told me there was repeated caucusing all throughout the day yesterday in the Senate Democratic conference and between LGBT advocates, continuing into the night. At last, a deal was announced. Paul Schindler of Gay City News reports:
Flanked by four members of the State Senate Democratic majority and the leader of New York's LGBT lobby, Governor David A. Paterson announced an agreement by which the Senate leadership has, for the first time, agreed to debate and vote on a marriage equality bill before the end of 2009.
"This is the first time that the Senate leadership has indicated that it will support a vote on marriage equality," the governor said. "This is a stunning and very happy development in this process."
[...]
Paterson was joined by the Senate's deputy majority leader, Jeffrey Klein, who represents portions of the Bronx and Westchester, Brooklyn Senator Eric Adams, Manhattan Senator Eric Schneiderman, and Thomas K. Duane, the out gay Chelsea senator who is the lead sponsor of the marriage equality bill. Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, was also on hand.
The day capped a chaotic "extraodinary session" in which the Senate declined to take action on Paterson's proposals for closing a widening budget gap -- meaning legislators will return to Albany on Monday to resume that effort -- and the Democrats caucused on on and off in passionate, even heated debate about whether the marriage bill would be taken up. As senators moved in and out of the offices of the Majority Conference, dozens of advocates, many affiliated with Marriage Equality New York, kept up a chant of "We deserve a vote."
The agreement that the governor announced Tuesday evening was hammered out in a tense, but frank meeting he held with Senate leaders and advocates just prior to the press conference.
Thanks to all of you who made calls yesterday asking your Senator to support a vote. From what I'm told, it made a very real difference in the internal deliberations between Senators and the leadership.
Our job now is to obtain the votes. A number of outlets have reported vote totals below the 32 needed to pass as bill as of now. I argued yesterday in favor of having a vote even with the knowledge that it would fail rather than pushing this off into 2010 or 2011, and that is still the optimal strategy.
If you haven't done so yet, call your State Senator and ask him/her to vote in favor of marriage equality.
I'll have more on this fight as it comes. Game on.
Update: Jeremy Peters and Liz Benjamin are both reporting that a vote won't happen today, but that it isn't delayed permanently. Sen. Espada, the majority leader, said he believes it will follow the Governor's deficit reduction plan next week. This follows what Benjamin's source reported, which is that Senators couldn't go back to voters and say they enacted marriage equality but no deficit reduction plan. I'm told conversations are still ongoing to have a vote later this week or next week. So there is still a likelihood. Keep the calls up.
I don't usually get too personal on you guys, but this is important. This morning, OpenLeft sent out an action blast with that title to the New Yorkers on our list (if you're not signed up for OpenLeft Action, click here to do so)
You read that right. I can't.
No really, I can't. I'm a regular guy from Buffalo and I can't get married. Why?
Because I'm gay.
Today, all that can change. But I need your help.
In our home state of New York, the New York State Senate will go into special session today, and we have an opportunity to win a vote on legislation to enact marriage equality for same-sex couples. This vote could happen as early as TODAY.
Can you take a minute to call your State Senator and demand that he/she vote on, and support, marriage equality?
Here's the deal. Gov. Paterson has called another special session and asked that marriage equality be put on the agenda. The session starts today. The Assembly has previously passed such legislation and Gov. Paterson will sign the bill. New York does not allow for ballot referenda to enact or overturn laws, so there is very little chance this will be repealed like in Maine and California.
The problem is, the State Senators themselves decide what is on the agenda, not Paterson, and what I'm hearing from a number of sources is that pressure needs to be put on the conference leader, Sen. John Sampson, from State Senators. There are a lot of "Yes" vote Democrats who do not necessarily want to see a vote. Tom Duane, the openly gay Senate sponsor, has said for months that he has the votes, and the problem is getting the leadership to take it up. The reason this needs to happen is if it gets put off until 2010, an election year for State Senators, it is even more likely to not come up for a vote. And in 2011, we might have an anti-equality Republican governor on our hands. So this needs to happen now.
So, if you live in New York State and wouldn't mind helping me and lots of other couples get married, I would sure appreciate it. Empire State Pride Agenda has a neat tool that connects you with your State Senator (you literally don't even have to dial). Fill it out here. Ask that he or she (a) ask Sen. Sampson for a vote on marriage equality (b) to vote in favor.
Even if you know your State Senator is in favor of marriage equality, it's important to call and remind him/her to ask for a vote. We could put this one in the bag and make New York State the fifth state to legislatively enact marriage equality. The third-largest state in the union. If you're a New Yorker, take a minute to call.
After losses like the one in Maine, I always feel like the best way to channel anger is into the next fight. Well, we've got one on our hands. Empire State Pride Agenda just e-mailed out the following:
Marriage equality has been an issue Governor Paterson has long championed and we are thrilled he has called the State Senate back to Albany next Tuesday and put the marriage equality bill on the agenda. We now expect that we will get the respectful debate and vote that we've been waiting for since June.
There is never a wrong time or inconvenient time to debate human rights legislation because it's always the right time. As long as a group of New Yorkers are being denied equal rights, addressing issues like marriage equality must always be a priority. Support for providing equal rights to LGBT New Yorkers has always been bipartisan, and we expect that this bill will be no different.
We look forward to hearing our lives and our families debated on the Senate floor next Tuesday. It's now time that each of the 62 State Senators vote their conscience on this bill that has great implications for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in all parts of the state.
For more background, Paul Schindler at Gay City News has the story. It appears we either have or are very close to having the votes.
What remains to be seen is whether the State Senate will actually vote. Paterson has called special sessions before and called for a vote and not gotten one.
New York State is my home state, and this would be fantastic to see. The Assembly already previously passed legislation, and Gov. Paterson has pledged to sign the bill.
If you're from New York, call your legislator. One should assume it's on the agenda for the time being. I just called Sen. Razenhofer (never hurts). Empire State Pride Agenda has a great tool here.
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