Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon

Today Kent and I participated in the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon. Kent did the half and I did the full.




It was a lot of fun and both of us did well! It's pride weekend in Seattle so we hooked up with friends up on the hill before dinner.




Then we went to a restaurant called Poppy in Seattle that I have been wanting to try for a long time. Dinner was awesome! As were the drinks! I'd highly recommend it!







Until tomorrow! Happy pride weekend!

Jim

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From Today's New York Times

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and MICHAEL BARBARO
Last Updated: 2:53 AM ET
ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born.

The marriage bill, whose fate was uncertain until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 in a packed but hushed Senate chamber. Four members of the Republican majority joined all but one Democrat in the Senate in supporting the measure after an intense and emotional campaign aimed at the handful of lawmakers wrestling with a decision that divided their friends, their constituents and sometimes their own homes.

With his position still undeclared, Senator Mark J. Grisanti, a Republican from Buffalo who had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage, told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.

“I apologize for those who feel offended,” Mr. Grisanti said, adding, “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”

Senate approval was the final hurdle for the same-sex marriage legislation, which was approved last week by the Assembly. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the measure at 11:55 p.m., and the law will go into effect in 30 days, meaning that same-sex couples could begin marrying in New York by late July.

Passage of same-sex marriage here followed a daunting run of defeats in other states where voters barred same-sex marriage by legislative action, constitutional amendment or referendum. Just five states currently permit same-sex marriage: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia.

At around 10:30 p.m., moments after the vote was announced, Mr. Cuomo strode onto the Senate floor to wave at cheering supporters who had crowded into the galleries to watch. Trailed by two of his daughters, the governor greeted lawmakers, and paused to single out those Republicans who had defied the majority of their party to support the marriage bill.

“How do you feel?” he asked Senator James S. Alesi, a suburban Rochester Republican who voted against the measure in 2009 and was the first to break party ranks this year. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

The approval of same-sex marriage represented a reversal of fortune for gay-rights advocates, who just two years ago suffered a humiliating defeat when a same-sex marriage bill was easily rejected by the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. This year, with the Senate controlled by Republicans, the odds against passage of same-sex marriage appeared long.

But the unexpected victory had a clear champion: Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged last year to support same-sex marriage but whose early months in office were dominated by intense battles with lawmakers and some labor unions over spending cuts.

Mr. Cuomo made same-sex marriage one of his top priorities for the year and deployed his top aide to coordinate the efforts of a half-dozen local gay-rights organizations whose feuding and disorganization had in part been blamed for the defeat two years ago.

The new coalition of same-sex marriage supporters brought in one of Mr. Cuomo’s trusted campaign operatives to supervise a $3 million television and radio campaign aimed at persuading several Republican and Democratic senators to drop their opposition.

New York Allows Same-Sex Marriage, Becoming Largest State to Pass Law

Slide Show | New York Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed.
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and MICHAEL BARBARO
Last Updated: 2:53 AM ET
ALBANY — Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born.

The marriage bill, whose fate was uncertain until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 in a packed but hushed Senate chamber. Four members of the Republican majority joined all but one Democrat in the Senate in supporting the measure after an intense and emotional campaign aimed at the handful of lawmakers wrestling with a decision that divided their friends, their constituents and sometimes their own homes.

With his position still undeclared, Senator Mark J. Grisanti, a Republican from Buffalo who had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage, told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.

“I apologize for those who feel offended,” Mr. Grisanti said, adding, “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”


Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York signed a same-sex marriage bill into law …
Nathaniel Brooks for…
Senate approval was the final hurdle for the same-sex marriage legislation, which was approved last week by the Assembly. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the measure at 11:55 p.m., and the law will go into effect in 30 days, meaning that same-sex couples could begin marrying in New York by late July.

Passage of same-sex marriage here followed a daunting run of defeats in other states where voters barred same-sex marriage by legislative action, constitutional amendment or referendum. Just five states currently permit same-sex marriage: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia.

At around 10:30 p.m., moments after the vote was announced, Mr. Cuomo strode onto the Senate floor to wave at cheering supporters who had crowded into the galleries to watch. Trailed by two of his daughters, the governor greeted lawmakers, and paused to single out those Republicans who had defied the majority of their party to support the marriage bill.

“How do you feel?” he asked Senator James S. Alesi, a suburban Rochester Republican who voted against the measure in 2009 and was the first to break party ranks this year. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”


Senator Stephen M. Saland explained his vote to support legalizing same sex marr…
Nathaniel Brooks for…
The approval of same-sex marriage represented a reversal of fortune for gay-rights advocates, who just two years ago suffered a humiliating defeat when a same-sex marriage bill was easily rejected by the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. This year, with the Senate controlled by Republicans, the odds against passage of same-sex marriage appeared long.

But the unexpected victory had a clear champion: Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who pledged last year to support same-sex marriage but whose early months in office were dominated by intense battles with lawmakers and some labor unions over spending cuts.

Mr. Cuomo made same-sex marriage one of his top priorities for the year and deployed his top aide to coordinate the efforts of a half-dozen local gay-rights organizations whose feuding and disorganization had in part been blamed for the defeat two years ago.

The new coalition of same-sex marriage supporters brought in one of Mr. Cuomo’s trusted campaign operatives to supervise a $3 million television and radio campaign aimed at persuading several Republican and Democratic senators to drop their opposition.


Supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage ral…
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
For Senate Republicans, even bringing the measure to the floor was a freighted decision. Most of the Republicans firmly oppose same-sex marriage on moral grounds, and many of them also had political concerns, fearing that allowing same-sex marriage to pass on their watch would embitter conservative voters and cost the Republicans their one-seat majority in the Senate.

Leaders of the state’s Conservative Party, whose support many Republican lawmakers depend on to win election, warned that they would oppose in legislative elections next year any Republican senator who voted for same-sex marriage.

But after days of contentious discussion capped by a marathon nine-hour closed-door debate on Friday, Republicans came to a fateful decision: The full Senate would be allowed to vote on the bill, the majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, said Friday afternoon, and each member would be left to vote according to his or her conscience.

“The days of just bottling up things, and using these as excuses not to have votes — as far as I’m concerned as leader, it’s over with,” said Mr. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who voted against the bill.

Just before the marriage vote, lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly approved a broad package of major legislation that constituted the remainder of their agenda for the year. The bills included a cap on local property tax increases and a strengthening of New York’s rent regulation laws, as well as a five-year tuition increase at the State University of New York and the City University of New York.

But Republican lawmakers spent much of the week negotiating changes to the marriage bill to protect religious institutions, especially those that oppose same-sex weddings. On Friday, the Assembly and the Senate approved those changes. But they were not enough to satisfy the measure’s staunchest opponents. In a joint statement, New York’s Catholic bishops assailed the vote.

“The passage by the Legislature of a bill to alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled,” the bishops said.

Besides Mr. Alesi and Mr. Grisanti, the four Republicans who voted for the measure included Senators Stephen M. Saland from the Hudson Valley area and Roy J. McDonald of the capital region.

Just one lawmaker rose to speak against the bill: Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx, the only Democratic senator to cast a no vote. Mr. Díaz, saying he was offended by the two-minute restrictions set on speeches, repeatedly interrupted the presiding officer who tried to limit the senator’s remarks, shouting, “You don’t want to hear me.”

“God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage, a long time ago,” Mr. Díaz said.

The legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States is a relatively recent goal of the gay-rights movement, but over the last few years, gay-rights organizers have placed it at the center of their agenda, steering money and muscle into dozens of state capitals in an often uphill effort to persuade lawmakers.

In New York, passage of the bill reflects rapidly evolving sentiment about same-sex unions. In 2004, according to a Quinnipiac poll, 37 percent of the state’s residents supported allowing same-sex couples to wed. This year, 58 percent of them did. Advocates moved aggressively this year to capitalize on that shift, flooding the district offices of wavering lawmakers with phone calls, e-mails and signed postcards from constituents who favored same-sex marriage, sometimes in bundles that numbered in the thousands.

Dozens more states have laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Many of them were approved in the past few years, as same-sex marriage moved to the front line of the culture war and politicians deployed the issue as a tool for energizing their base.

But New York could be a shift: It is now by far the largest state to grant legal recognition to same-sex weddings, and one that is home to a large, visible and politically influential gay community. Supporters of the measure described the victory in New York as especially symbolic — and poignant — because of its rich place in the history of gay rights: the movement’s foundational moment, in June 1969, was a riot against police inside the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the West Village.

In Albany, there was elation after the vote. But leading up to it, there were moments of tension and frustration. At one point, Senator Kevin S. Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat, erupted when he and other supporters learned they would not be allowed to make a floor speech.

“This is not right,” he yelled, before storming from the chamber.

During a brief recess during the voting, Senator Shirley L. Huntley, a Queens Democrat who had only recently come out in support of same sex marriage, strode from her seat to the back of the Senate chamber to congratulate Daniel J. O’Donnell, an openly gay Manhattan lawmaker who sponsored the legislation in the Assembly.

They hugged, and Assemblyman O’Donnell, standing with his longtime partner, began to tear up.

“We’re going to invite you to our wedding,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “Now we have to figure out how to pay for one.”

Danny Hakim and Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting from Albany, and Adriane Quinlan from New York.

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NY Legislature legalizes gay marriage

Happy Pride Weekend! Now we can truly celebrate! Way to go New York! California here we come!

MICHAEL GORMLEY
Published: Jun 24, 2011 7:41 PM
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York lawmakers narrowly voted to legalize same-sex marriage Friday, handing activists a breakthrough victory in the state where the gay rights movement was born.

New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can wed and the biggest by far.

Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.

Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state's size and New York City's international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, which is considered to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.

The New York bill cleared the Republican-controlled state Senate on a 33-29 vote. The Democrat-led Assembly, which passed a different version last week, is expected to pass the new version with stronger religious exemptions and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Same-sex couples can begin marrying begin 30 days after that. The passage of New York's legislation was made possible in two Republican senators who had been undecided.

Sen. Stephen Saland voted against a similar bill in 2009, helping kill the measure and dealing a blow to the national gay rights movement.

"While I understand that my vote will disappoint many, I also know my vote is a vote of conscience," Saland said in a statement to The Associated Press before the vote. "I am doing the right thing in voting to support marriage equality."

Gay couples in gallery wept during Saland's speech.

Sen. Mark Grisanti, a GOP freshman from Buffalo, also said he would vote for the bill. Grisanti said he could not deny anyone what he called basic rights.

The effects of the law could be felt well beyond New York: Unlike Massachusetts, which pioneered gay marriage in 2004, New York has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning the state could become a magnet for gay couples across the country who want to have a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara Falls.

New York, the nation's third most populous state, will join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

For five months in 2008, gay marriage was legal in California, the biggest state in population, and 18,000 same-sex couples rushed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the practice. The constitutionality of California's ban is now before a federal appeals court.

While court challenges in New York are all but certain, the state - unlike California - makes it difficult for the voters to repeal laws at the ballot box. Changing the law would require a constitutional convention, a long, drawn-out process.

The sticking point over the past few days: Republican demands for stronger legal protections for religious groups that fear they will be hit with discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to allow their facilities to be used for gay weddings.

The climactic vote came after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiations, rumors, closed-door meetings and frustration on the part of advocates. Online discussions took on a nasty turn with insults and vulgarities peppering the screens of opponents and supporters alike and security was beefed up in the capitol to give senators easier passage to and from their conference room.

The night before, President Barack Obama encouraged lawmakers to support gay rights during a fundraiser with New York City's gay community. The vote also is sure to charge up annual gay pride events this weekend, culminating with parades Sunday in New York City, San Francisco and other cities.


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It's Official! Gay Marriage Legalized in New York!

I'm thinking a fall wedding in Central Park is going to be in the works! Care to join us?

More news to follow! This is a big deal!


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Anxiously waiting for the news!

NY votes lining up for legalizing gay marriage

MICHAEL GORMLEY
Published: Jun 24, 2011 7:14 PM
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A veteran New York Republican senator who had been undecided said Friday night he will vote for gay marriage, the potential deciding vote in a divisive debate watched as a bellwether for the national gay rights movement.

Sen. Stephen Saland told The Associated Press he has long been undecided. He voted against a similar bill in 2009, helping kill the measure and dealing a blow to the national gay rights movement.

Before he announced his intention, 31 senators were in favor, one short of a majority. If they all still vote that way, New York will become the sixth state, and by far the largest, where gay marriage is legal once Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs it into law.

The Democrat-led Assembly already passed the bill.

"While I understand that my vote will disappoint many, I also know my vote is a vote of conscience," Saland said in a statement to the AP. "I am doing the right thing in voting to support marriage equality."

Republicans in the New York Senate agreed Friday to allow a full vote on legalizing gay marriage, setting the stage for a possible breakthrough victory for the gay-rights movement in the state where it got its start. The chamber approved protections for religious groups opposed to gay marriage not long after the Assembly also gave them the nod.

New York would become the sixth state where gay couples can wed, and the biggest by far.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said the bill will come to the floor and be brought up for an "up or down vote." It will be a "vote of conscience for every member of this Senate," Skelos said.

Sen. Thomas Duane, the openly gay Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the bill, wouldn't speculate on its chances.

"I'm hopeful - with the governor and bipartisan support," Duane said.

Ruben Diaz Sr., the leader of opposition to the bill and the lone Democrat expected to vote no, had inklings before the vote that it would pass.

"They wouldn't bring it if it wouldn't pass," Diaz said.

"We'll pass it," predicted Senate Democratic leader John Sampson of Brooklyn, whose conference is committing 29 votes to the 32 needed to approve gay marriage.

The heavily Democratic Assembly on Friday evening passed amendments protecting religious groups that oppose gay marriage from discrimination lawsuits, leaving only the Senate vote to finalize the measure. Amid cheers, the chamber passed the religious exemptions by a vote of 82-47. The Assembly passed the main gay marriage bill a week ago.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Gay weddings could begin 30 days after that.

Gay marriage activists were jubilant and applauded Skelos, who is opposed to gay marriage, for keeping his promise to let the conference decide whether to send the bill to the floor.

Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state's size and New York City's international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay-rights movement, which is said to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.

At a fundraiser in New York City Thursday night, President Barack Obama praised New York lawmakers for taking up the issue but cautioned the gay community that getting the right to marry would take time. Obama has said his position is evolving but he still supports civil unions.

"I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country," the president said at the fundraiser, his first geared specifically to the gay community. Obama said he was confident that there will be a day "when every single American, gay or straight or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, is free to live and love as they see fit."

The effects of a New York law could be felt well beyond the state: Unlike Massachusetts, which pioneered gay marriage in 2004, New York has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning the state could become a magnet for gay couples across the country who want to have a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara Falls.

Gay-rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.

The sticking point over the past few days: Republican demands for stronger legal protections for religious groups that fear they will be hit with discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to allow their facilities to be used for gay weddings.

Now, all 32 Republicans have approved stronger religious protections agreed to by Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous of Binghamton, who opposes gay marriage, said that after hours of passionate debate behind closed doors he still doesn't know if there are enough votes to pass the bill.

"We've had some great conferences and nobody was told to vote yes or no," he said. "People spoke from their hearts."

New York, the nation's third most populous state, would join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

For five months in 2008, gay marriage was legal in California, the biggest state in population, and 18,000 same-sex couples rushed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the practice. The constitutionality of California's ban is now before a federal appeals court.

While court challenges in New York are all but certain, the state - unlike California - makes it difficult for the voters to repeal laws at the ballot box. Changing the law would require a constitutional convention, a long, drawn-out process.

Movement on the bill comes after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiations, rumors, closed-door meetings and frustration on the part of advocates.

Online discussions took on a nasty turn with insults and vulgarities peppering the screens of opponents and supporters alike and security was beefed up in the capitol to give senators easier passage to and from their conference room.

Despite New York City's liberal Democratic politics and large and vocal gay community, previous efforts to legalize same-sex marriage failed over the past several years, in part because the rest of the state is more conservative than the city.

If the bill succeeds this time, it would reflect the powerful support of New York's new governor, who lobbied hard for the measure, and perhaps a change in public attitudes. Opinion polls for the first time are showing majority support for same-sex marriage, and Congress recently repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred gays from serving openly in the military.

In the weeks leading up to the action in New York, some Republicans who opposed the bill in 2009 came forward to say they were supporting it for reasons of conscience and a duty to ensure civil rights.

Pressure to vote for gay marriage also has come from celebrities, athletes and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republican-turned-independent who has long used his own fortune to help bankroll GOP campaigns and who personally lobbied some undecided lawmakers. Lady Gaga has been urging her 11 million Twitter followers to call New York senators in support of the bill.

Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox rabbis and other conservative religious leaders are fighting the measure, and their GOP allies have pressed hard for legal protections for religious organizations that object to gay marriage.

Each side of the debate was funded by more than $1 million from national and state advocates who waged media blitzes and promised campaign cash for lawmakers who sided with them.

But GOP senators said it was Cuomo's passionate appeals in the governor's mansion on Monday night and in closed-door, individual meetings that were perhaps most persuasive.

The bill would make New York the third state, after Vermont and New Hampshire, to legalize marriage through a legislative act and without being forced to do so by a court.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Virtanen contributed to this report.


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Gay marriage headed to vote on NY Senate floor

Quick update. Keep your fingers crossed!

MICHAEL GORMLEY
Published: Jun 24, 2011 4:24 PM
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Republicans in the New York Senate agreed Friday to allow a full vote on legalizing gay marriage, setting the stage for a possible breakthrough victory for the gay-rights movement in the state where it got its start.

New York could become the sixth state where gay couples can wed, and the biggest by far. A vote is expected Friday night after several hours of debate.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said the bill will come to the floor and be brought up for an "up or down vote." It will be a "vote of conscience for every member of this Senate," Skelos said.

Sen. Thomas Duane, the openly gay Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the bill, wouldn't speculate on its chances.

"I'm hopeful - with the governor and bipartisan support," Duane said.

Ruben Diaz Sr., the leader of opposition to the bill and the lone Democrat expected to vote no, had inklings before the vote that it would pass.

"They wouldn't bring it if it wouldn't pass," Diaz said.

"We'll pass it," predicted Senate Democratic leader John Sampson of Brooklyn, whose conference is committing 29 votes to the 32 needed to approve gay marriage.

The heavily Democratic Assembly has already approved one version of the measure and is expected to easily pass the new version, which contains more protections for religious groups that oppose gay marriage and feared discrimination lawsuits.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Gay weddings could begin 30 days after that.

Gay marriage activists were jubilant and applauded Skelos, who is opposed to gay marriage, for keeping his promise to let the conference decide whether to send the bill to the floor.

Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state's size and New York City's international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay-rights movement, which is said to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.

At a fundraiser in New York City Thursday night, President Barack Obama praised New York lawmakers for taking up the issue but cautioned the gay community that getting the right to marry would take time. Obama has said his position is evolving but he still supports civil unions.

"I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country," the president said at the fundraiser, his first geared specifically to the gay community. Obama said he was confident that there will be a day "when every single American, gay or straight or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, is free to live and love as they see fit."

The effects of a New York law could be felt well beyond the state: Unlike Massachusetts, which pioneered gay marriage in 2004, New York has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning the state could become a magnet for gay couples across the country who want to have a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara Falls.

Gay-rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.

The sticking point over the past few days: Republican demands for stronger legal protections for religious groups that fear they will be hit with discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to allow their facilities to be used for gay weddings.

Now, all 32 Republicans have approved stronger religious protections agreed to by Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Deputy Majority Leader Thomas Libous of Binghamton, who opposes gay marriage, said that after hours of passionate debate behind closed doors he still doesn't know if there are enough votes to pass the bill.

"We've had some great conferences and nobody was told to vote yes or no," he said. "People spoke from their hearts."

New York, the nation's third most populous state, would join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

For five months in 2008, gay marriage was legal in California, the biggest state in population, and 18,000 same-sex couples rushed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the practice. The constitutionality of California's ban is now before a federal appeals court.

While court challenges in New York are all but certain, the state - unlike California - makes it difficult for the voters to repeal laws at the ballot box. Changing the law would require a constitutional convention, a long, drawn-out process.

Movement on the bill comes after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiations, rumors, closed-door meetings and frustration on the part of advocates.

Online discussions took on a nasty turn with insults and vulgarities peppering the screens of opponents and supporters alike and security was beefed up in the capitol to give senators easier passage to and from their conference room.

Despite New York City's liberal Democratic politics and large and vocal gay community, previous efforts to legalize same-sex marriage failed over the past several years, in part because the rest of the state is more conservative than the city.

If the bill succeeds this time, it would reflect the powerful support of New York's new governor, who lobbied hard for the measure, and perhaps a change in public attitudes. Opinion polls for the first time are showing majority support for same-sex marriage, and Congress recently repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred gays from serving openly in the military.

In the weeks leading up to the action in New York, some Republicans who opposed the bill in 2009 came forward to say they were supporting it for reasons of conscience and a duty to ensure civil rights.

Pressure to vote for gay marriage also has come from celebrities, athletes and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republican-turned-independent who has long used his own fortune to help bankroll GOP campaigns and who personally lobbied some undecided lawmakers. Lady Gaga has been urging her 11 million Twitter followers to call New York senators in support of the bill.

Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox rabbis and other conservative religious leaders are fighting the measure, and their GOP allies have pressed hard for legal protections for religious organizations that object to gay marriage.

Each side of the debate was funded by more than $1 million from national and state advocates who waged media blitzes and promised campaign cash for lawmakers who sided with them.

But GOP senators said it was Cuomo's passionate appeals in the governor's mansion on Monday night and in closed-door, individual meetings that were perhaps most persuasive.

The bill would make New York the third state, after Vermont and New Hampshire, to legalize marriage through a legislative act and without being forced to do so by a court.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Virtanen contributed to this report.


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New York Marriage Bill Update

Senate Republicans have an opportunity to truly represent the citizens of New York and be role models for the rest of the country. Polls show that in New York and Nationally more people support gay marriage than oppose! I have to say I am not sure they are interested in what the majority of NY voters favor as much as being reelected! Keeping my fingers crossed that we will hear today and that justice will prevail!

From the AP.

A coalition of gay rights advocates is demanding that New York's Senate allow a vote on the legalization of gay marriage.

New Yorkers United for Marriage says it's the Senate's obligation to the people to allow a vote. Advocates had hoped for a vote days ago.

The Senate's Republican majority is returning to closed-door meetings Friday morning, but has several other bills to consider first. The majority is expected to take on gay marriage later in the day.

Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos ended the latest marathon session just before 11 p.m. Thursday out of concerns for his members' health.

The Senate has also directed all senators to use back hallways to avoid the constant presence of loud demonstrations from both sides. Several Republicans are well into their 70s.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

After New York's Senate ended its session for the "health of members" following the latest marathon session on Thursday, the Republican majority plans to again take up a gay marriage bill that could be pivotal moment in the national gay rights movement.

Gay rights supporters have secured legal marriage status for same-sex couples in Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa and the District of Columbia, and are hoping a gain in New York will give them greater momentum.

On Thursday, Senate leader Dean Skelos abruptly ended the session just before 11 p.m. as his members were awaiting the printing of bills not expected until after 4 a.m.

When lawmakers return Friday they still face several other major bills ranging from a public college tuition increase to a landmark tax cap before they can consider making New York the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

At a fundraiser in New York City Thursday night, President Barack Obama praised New York lawmakers for taking up the issue but cautioned the gay community that getting the right to marry would take time. Obama has said his position is evolving but he still supports civil unions.

"I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country," the president said at the fundraiser, his first geared specifically to the gay community. Obama said progress will be slower than some people want, but he added that he was confident that there will be a day "when every single American, gay or straight or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, is free to live and love as they see fit."

Democrats in New York weren't happy with the pace in the Senate.

"This isn't stalling, it's a complete work stoppage by the Senate Republicans," said Austin Shafran, spokesman for the Democratic minority that supports gay marriage.

Sen. Kevin Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat, called the Republicans' handling of gay marriage "amateurish," but forgivable if same-sex marriage is eventually passed.

"As long as we get married, we'll be OK with the fumbling on the first date," Parker said.

There was no immediate comment from the Republican majority, which has been furiously negotiating major bills with Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Assembly's Democratic majority.

The gay marriage bill has passed in the Assembly, but several amendments have been proposed since then to better protect religious groups from discrimination lawsuits and to entice Republican senators to send the bill to the full Senate for a vote.

Of those places where gay marriage is legal, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., are the only ones that don't allow at least limited religious exemptions.

Skelos, who opposes gay marriage, has said his Republican caucus will have to meet behind closed doors to decide whether to move the bill to the floor or kill it. [Copyright 2011 The Associated Press]




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New York Gay Marriage Update

AP article with an update on the battle in NY about gay marriage. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Dozens of gay couples are planning to converge on Albany Thursday to witness what would be a historic vote to legalize gay marriage in New York, the sixth state to do so and a potential bellwether in the national gay rights movement. But for that to happen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's considerable political skills will be tested as never before to engineer one of the biggest
social changes in a generation.

The Democrat has been using a kind of shuttle diplomacy to privately test proposals for additional religious exceptions within the Senate's Republican majority. He's talked to individual senators or small groups of lawmakers privately, breaking down barriers and letting them take his message to others in the Republican caucus.

The proposed protections are aimed at saving religious groups from discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to recognize gay marriage based on their principles.

Those exceptions — carve-outs in the political lexicon — are intended to coax the state Senate's Republican majority, most who oppose gay marriage, to allow the bill to the Senate where Cuomo thinks it will pass by a bipartisan vote led by Democrats. He's made the issue one of his primary objectives in his first year in office.

"Will the conference allow a vote to be taken, that's the threshold," Cuomo said Wednesday evening. "I'm pro-marriage equality, I'm also pro-First Amendment, I'm pro-church-state separation and I'm pro-religious freedom. So I also have the same concern."

Even if Republicans agree to the religious exemptions, that's no guarantee the bill will pass. On Wednesday, Cuomo, Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said they agree in principle on more protections for religious groups, but critical negotiations over wording were expected to continue into Thursday, dragging out further a process that started to accelerate in earnest last Monday.

"It's not just the people who are going to vote `yes' or who may vote `yes,'" Cuomo said. "The entire (Republican) conference is looking at this language and the whole conference wants to make sure that they feel confident that if it comes out, and if it passes, that it protects religion."

Persuading those Republicans to get the bill to the floor for a vote was a pressure point for some of the hundreds of demonstrators at the Capitol on Wednesday. Signs cropped up threatening Republicans that if they allow the bill to the floor they could face a costly primary even if they ultimately vote against gay marriage.

Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long has also urged Senate Republicans to keep the bill from the floor, where a block of Democrats and a few Republicans could pass it. Among Democrats in the Senate, 29 of 30 say they'll vote for gay marriage, meaning only three Republicans need to vote for it to pass in the 62-seat chamber. Two have already committed to voting for it. There are only a small handful of senators, maybe as few as two, who are undecided.

"If gay marriage passes, it is Republicans across the state who will pay the biggest price," Long said in a joint statement with Democratic Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., a Bronx minister who leads opposition to same-sex marriage.

Long has said he would withhold the often critical Conservative endorsement from Republicans who vote for gay marriage. That threat was countered somewhat this week by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's visit to persuade Republicans to approve the bill: the independent, millionaire mayor is a longtime and generous contributor to Senate Republicans.

New York's action is being watched closely as a pivotal moment in the national gay rights movement. With the country's third-largest population, the international cultural cachet of New York City and a vast media presence, the state represents a major objective for both sides.

Two Republicans clearly undecided are Sen. Stephen Saland, of the Hudson Valley, one of the Senate's most veteran and respected members, and Sen. Mark Grisanti, of Buffalo, a freshman who is part of the GOP youth movement voted into office in the 2010 Republican tide nationwide.

Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage. Of them, all but Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., allow at least limited religious exemptions.

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Associated Press writer Michael Virtanen contributed to this report. [Copyright 2011 The Associated Press]


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