NY Gov. Announces Legislation Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

Posted by Tana Ganeva, AlterNet at 11:18 AM on April 16, 2009.

Embattled New York Gov. David A. Paterson drew mixed reviews after announcing today that he would introduce a Bill to make same-sex marriage legal in the state. If the legislation goes through, New York will be the 5th state — following Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut -- to allow same-sex couples to marry.

In his speech Paterson compared the plight of gays and lesbians to that of blacks, Jews, women, disabled people and other groups historically deprived of rights, and urged legislators to act:

We have all known the wrath of discrimination. We have all felt the pain and the insult of hatred. This is why we are all standing here today. We stand to tell the world that we want equality for everyone. We stand to tell the world that we want marriage equality in New York State.

But, while Paterson’s announcement has drawn praise, some gay rights activists are concerned that the bill is a stunt meant to bolster Paterson’s chances of re-election — one that has the potential to backfire. According to Queerty:

Sen. Tom Duane, the state's lone openly gay state Senator said "This is what I think: This isn't Las Vegas, and I'm not willing to gamble with a new strategy on anyone's civil rights." Paterson, whose political fortunes have been on the wane may very well be using the recent decisions in Iowa and Vermont as a political jumping off point to boost his reelection, but does that mean we shouldn't get on board?

Paterson has long been a champion of gay rights, so we're not arguing that his motives are purely political, but his decision to push for gay marriage in New York appears to have been made solely on his own, leaving gay rights groups as surprised by his announcement as anyone else.

There's really two major factors at work here. The first is that there's an undeniable momentum created by the Iowa and Vermont victories and we've argued before that the LGBT movement should capitalize on the current high profile of gay and lesbian rights before the public's attention moves to other things. New York is a fairly liberal state in many ways, but upstate New York is decidedly conservative.

Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx has vowed to defeat any gay marriage bill that comes up in the Senate. This leads to the second force at work, which is basically, that people don't like Gov. Paterson. His decision to bring gay marriage to the Legislature appears to have been made without gathering up the support the bill needs to pass. Alan Van Cappelle, executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda puts it bluntly, "We are closer than people think, but we're not there yet."

So, the question becomes "Can Paterson rally support for the bill?" All signs seem to indicate that he can't. The Governor has yet to build a track record of directing legislation in the state legislature and a contentious issue like gay marriage is an unlikely one for him to suddenly find himself in a position of influencing policy.

Tagged as: gay rights, same-sex marriage, new york, paterson