Gay advocates eye NJ after crushing defeat in NY Senate

NEW YORK -- Opponents of gay marriage celebrated a decisive vote in the New York State Senate, where a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated 38 to 24 on Wednesday.

The unexpectedly wide margin was delivered in a relatively liberal state where the other chamber of the legislature has thrice approved the measure and the governor, David A. Paterson, had been poised to sign it into law. The vote prompted pronouncements that the momentum for gay marriage had been not only halted, but also effectively reversed. Same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and, most recently, New Hampshire, where it goes into effect Jan. 1.

"I think you put it all together and it most likely spells the end of the idea that you can pass gay marriage democratically anywhere else in the United States," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which spearheaded opposition in Albany. "I think the gay marriage lobby will have to go back to a court-based approach.

"We did believe they were short at least five votes, but we did not expect to win by 14 votes."

For those fighting to expand gay rights, Mr. Díaz, a Pentecostal minister, represents the most outspoken and unpredictable of foes. He was forced to resign from the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board years ago for suggesting that the Gay Games would encourage homosexuality and spread H.I.V. In 2003, he sued the city to shut down a high school for gay and transgender students.

As advocates push for a vote on same-sex marriage in the State Senate on Tuesday, Mr. Díaz is again speaking out, arguing that last week’s election results show that the tide has turned against allowing gay people to wed.

And, given the Democrats’ fragile majority — the party has 32 senators to the Republicans’ 30 — Mr. Díaz’s stubbornness often yields results.

“The people of the nation don’t want gay marriage,” Mr. Díaz said in an interview Monday. “They didn’t want it in California; they didn’t want it in Maine. And the people of upstate New York, after what happened to the candidate in the 23rd Congressional District, they sent a message they don’t want gay marriage. Forget about it. People don’t want it.”

Mr. Díaz argued that the bill legalizing same-sex marriage should not be allowed to come to the floor, saying the Legislature has more important issues to attend to.

And some of his colleagues on Monday, while avoiding his provocative language, appeared to be moving to that position, worried that the political climate is too tense and the state’s fiscal crisis too urgent for the issue to be taken up now. On Monday evening, it was not clear whether the Senate would consider the measure.

The fight over same-sex marriage has thrust Mr. Díaz, 66, back into a familiar role — dissenting from and exasperating Democratic Senate leaders and some of his colleagues.

Call it the betrayal of a few Democrats, or call it a failure to count the votes. Yesterday’s 38-24 defeat of marriage equality in the New York State Senate was largely unexpected because of its timing - rather than its outcome. While national gay marriage activists have been focusing the past few weeks on New Jersey, we had less than 24 hours notice that a vote in Albany would happen – making it impossible to effectively mobilize constituents of swing legislators to prevail. It’s true Empire State Pride Agenda had been working on the issue for months, but the State Senate leadership called the vote on very short notice – catching gay marriage activists who could have helped the cause flat-footed. Unlike New Jersey, where the legislature must act before the end of the year while Governor Corzine is still in office, there was no need to schedule the New York vote in haste – making the loss even more infuriating.
Politicians react to pressure, and gay marriage will not happen if we rely on state senators making promises to their colleagues behind closed doors. It requires engaging activists – and having them pound the pavement in swing districts to secure commitments from state legislators. Garden State Equality is doing the hard work now to push New Jersey legislators at the grassroots level, and that kind of work takes time and effort. Advocates who are upset about New York, Maine and California need to get engaged today to secure a victory in Trenton.

The New York Senate leadership believed they had the votes to pass marriage equality – because they had gotten private commitments from some moderate Republicans to allow passage. But when it became apparent the bill was going to fail, not a single Republican joined the 24 Democrats who voted for equality. My guess is that they were afraid of the repercussions among Republican primary voters. Shell-shocked by what just happened to Dede Scozzafava, they were not going to become the next casualty of a right-wing Teabagger purge of the GOP.