Big Assembly Win Sends Marriage Bill to Senate

After an emotional debate that ran more than three hours -- about as long as when the question was first taken up in 2007 -- the New York State Assembly passed Governor David Paterson's marriage equality bill on May 12, by an 89-52 vote.

In June 2007, the measure carried with an 85-61 margin, but was not considered by the State Senate, then controlled by Republicans. This year, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith of Queens, whose caucus has only a 32-30 edge, has pledged his support, though he has consistently said he would bring the measure to the floor only when he is confident it will carry. This year's session ends in June.

As the Assembly debate unfolded, however, Smith made his strongest statement on the prospects for the bill. "The momentum is shifting -- marriage equality will be a reality in New York and I welcome that day," Smith said in a press release, in which he added, "It is my goal to realize that... accomplishment in the Senate, and as a strong supporter of marriage equality legislation, I will continue to work until we have sufficient votes to pass it."

Three weeks ago, when introducing the marriage bill at a Manhattan press conference, the governor, who once served as minority leader in that chamber, called for a Senate vote whether or not passage was assured, arguing that some fence-sitters will only be smoked out that way. "Whenever the vote is taken, I believe you will see -- and it will be interesting to watch if this doesn't turn out to happen -- whether there aren't three or four members of the Senate who will vote for it when they had not said they would," Paterson told Gay City News in a follow-up interview. "The sooner the vote is taken, the sooner this will pass."

Thomas Duane, an out gay Chelsea Democrat who is the lead Senate sponsor of the marriage measure, released a statement after the Assembly vote saying flatly, "I am confident that this year my Senate will uphold this fundamental legal principle and vote for my right, our right, to be married this year."

Paterson, Duane, and advocates led by the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) all acknowledge that Republican votes will be needed -- Bronx Democrat Ruben Diaz, Sr., a Pentecostal minister, is an implacable foe of gay rights who will lead a rally in opposition in that borough on May 17, and other Democrats have voiced opposition, though in less than Shermanesque terms.

In the effort to build bipartisan momentum heading into the Senate, the Assembly vote offered reason for optimism. The number of GOP votes, from a caucus that numbers only 41 out of the 150 seats in total, rose from three to five.

In the far northern part of the state, Republicans Teresa Sayward of Willsboro and Deirdre Scozzafava of Gouverneur were joined by Janet Duprey of Plattsburgh. Joel Miller of Poughkeepsie voted for the bill again, and for the first time, GOP Assemblyman Fred Thiele of Sag Harbor cast an aye.

Last week, the Daily News' Liz Benjamin reported that ESPA had spent $100,000 on polling in key swing State Senate districts currently represented by Republicans and found that in four Long Island districts -- represented by GOP Senators Ken LaValle, Kemp Hannon, Charles Fuschillo, and John Flanagan -- voters approve of marriage equality by a 52-42 margin. The issue polls best among voters under 30, women, and Independents.

Some flips by Democratic assemblymembers to a pro-equality vote also offered hope that neighboring senators might be swayed. Sandra Galef from Ossining spoke out in favor of the bill this week, after voting no in 2007, and ESPA confirmed that her switch will be helpful in lobbying Senate Republican Vincent Leibell, who is from Patterson, in neighboring Putnam County.

Stepping up its efforts to move senators in key districts, ESPA on May 13 unveiled the first in a series of ads aimed at showing "how real New York families are hurt when same-sex couples aren't allowed to marry."

The first 30-second spot, set to run in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany, features Barb and Don Crawford, who are parents of two daughters, one straight and one lesbian. The couple talk about both having met the "person that she loves," with younger daughter Jody married, but Amy, in a relationship for 12 years and the mother of their oldest grandchild, Olive, unable to do so. Saying that Olive has been the flower girl in two weddings, Barb says, "She wants to be the flower girl in her mom's wedding. It's time to pass the marriage equality bill."

As the lead Assembly sponsor, it fell to Daniel O'Donnell, an out gay Democrat from the Upper West Side, to respond to questions and criticisms from the bill's opponents. Those fighting the measure clearly had received talking points from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a recently formed group dedicated to spending millions in opposition to equality initiatives nationwide and the producer of the infamous "Gathering Storm" ad.

Republican Michael Fitzpatrick, from Smithtown on Long Island, informed that the measure specifically states that no religious institution can be compelled to officiate over a same-sex marriage, insisted that it would "force society" to accept such unions, warning of school assemblies held to celebrate gay marriage.

Dov Hikind of Brooklyn's Boro Park, elected on both the Democratic and Republican lines, said he understood discrimination and invoked the Nazi gas chambers, but then warned that Hasidic congregations would be compelled to rent out their halls for marriage celebrations by gay couples.

Michael Benjamin, a Bronx Democrat, itemized a litany of injustices that burdened African-Americans over the past 400 years against which he suggested anti-gay discrimination was minor, then pointed to a Methodist organization in New Jersey that lost a tax exemption for seaside boardwalk property it owned after refusing to make it available for a civil union ceremony. Benjamin failed to mention -- and likely did not know -- that the tax exemption in question was not related to religious freedom but rather the facility's availability as an open spaces public accommodation receiving favored tax treatment under New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection.

In the end, each of these three acknowledged a deeper-seated opposition to marriage equality that had nothing to do with the technical quibbles they raised. Fitzpatrick spoke of "a lifestyle I do not condone" and warned of "a coming day of collision" over marriage equality. Hikind said, "This legislation undermines the very foundations of traditional marriage." And Benjamin said he felt like a Roman centurion guarding against "the Huns and the Visigoths" and like Captain Picard battling the Borgs.

O'Donnell largely resisted the temptation to blast or belittle his opponents for their arcane and alarmist warnings, saving much of his firepower for emphasizing the evidence from New Jersey and Vermont that civil unions had failed same-sex couples -- most dramatically "in emergency situations," such as when hospital staff, concerned about running afoul of federal medical privacy provisions, deny civil union partners access to their sick or injured loved ones.

Republican James Tedicsco from Schenectady, who recently lost his bid to win Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's vacant House seat, badgered O'Donnell for being "intolerant of bisexuals" who, he said, might want to be married to both a man and a woman. Comically, Tedisco was followed in speaking by Manhattan Democrat Micah Kellner, who is openly bisexual and assured the Republican that his relationships have been sequential and not simultaneous.

O'Donnell offered moments of eloquence when talking about his partner of 28 years, John Banta, assuring his colleagues that all they wanted from them was "a piece of paper" any of the rest of them could get and the right to hear a marriage officiant conclude a ceremony with the words "by the power invested in me by the State of New York."

Some of O'Donnell's fellow marriage equality supporters also provided memorable moments.

Matt Titone, an out gay Democrat from Staten Island, talked about the trouble his partner of 16 years, Josh, had gaining access to the hospital room where Titone's mother lay dying.

Deborah Glick invoked the mentorship of African-American feminist Flo Kennedy and the memory of Bayard Rustin, a top aide to Martin Luther King, Jr., whose homosexuality at times became a lightning rod for civil rights opponents.

Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, meanwhile, spoke of his admiration for the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, whom he termed "a paradigm for diversity," as a disabled African-American lesbian from Texas.

Jose Rivera, a veteran Democratic lawmaker from the Bronx, explicitly challenged religious leaders pushing to defeat the equality measure, saying, "I don't care what clothes you wear or what book you quote from. You're not going to intimidate me or shake me down."

Thiele, the Sag Harbor Republican, in explaining how he came to embrace a bill he voted against last time, admitted that, in 2007, "I took the path of least resistance," adding, "I never felt good about that vote."

Perhaps the most compelling testimony came from assemblymembers who believe, or once believed, that their vote was politically risky. Frank Skartados, an Ulster County Democrat first elected last fall, said he thought his constituents might not like his vote, but stated, "It is the right thing to do, not in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of a humble man like me. Even if I am a one-term assemblyman, it is the right thing to do."

Republican Sayward, whose son is gay, said that as she left the Assembly chamber in 2007 after a moving speech in favor of marriage equality, "A colleague came up to me and said, 'You will never be elected again in New York State.' I headed up the Adirondacks that night, head held high, assuming I would not be back here to vote for this again."

Her 2008 victory margin exceeded that of 2006.

Broadway Impact, an organization of theater and television professionals supporting marriage equality, is leading a rally on Sunday, May 17 from 5-7 p.m. at 45th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Information at BroadwayImpact.com.

http://gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20314687&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568864&rfi=6
By:PAUL SCHINDLER
05/13/2009
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