Earlier today Freedom To Marry tweeted this photo saying, "supporters are filling the halls in the capital building this morning!"
Looks like they'll have a wait. NY1 is just one of the outlets saying no vote today. I have heard the same elsewhere.
But we cannot presume this is bad news. Albany has a number of tasks on their plate, including renewing the expired rent regulations. It is reasonable to conclude that there is still much horse-trading to be done. Though the session was slated to end today, it appears it will go into overtime. This was not unexpected. It had been mentioned around in the last week. The Governor has the power to convene the legislature at his discretion (although, he cannot compel them to vote on any issue).
One could well-imagine that as huge a story as marriage equality is, the Governor and other politicos might not be anxious to pass marriage equality before they score the other victories they'd like to see the news actually report. If marriage equality passes, it promises to dominate the news, as the run-up fight has these last few months. (Thanks to the fine work of our alliance of coalitions, New Yorkers United For Marriage.)
And the other side is not sounding hopeful. At 12:17 pm today, a Bilerico Project reporter live blogging from Albany shared this:
Anti-equality protester just pulled a sympathetic legislator aside. The legislator said that essentially all they could do now was "pray" and "they shut us out".
Good, you pray. We'll vote, donate, advocate, activate and agitate.
The Associate Press has an article calling Governor Andrew Cuomo "the new face of gay marriage rights."And it's true, the man transitioned seamlessly from promising marriage equality on the stump to tirelessly stumping for it around the state.
His efforts this past week to get the bill through the Republican-controlled state Senate — the lone roadblock to passage — make good on an issue he ran on last year. During that campaign, he took his daughters to a gay pride parade in New York City, drawing sharp criticism from his Republican opponent."The governor is putting skin in the game and has a steadfast commitment to the issue," said Kevin Nix of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group. "That he's made marriage equality a priority for this legislative session speaks volumes about his commitment."
The article demonstrates how Cuomo has argued this is "a matter of principle, not politics." But it also pauses to examine, contrary to conventional wisdom this is smart politics for the Governor. One can be sure he won't be looking back in 20 years regretting his decision to lead, not follow.
Just today, Capitol Tonight of New York is reporting he's used his government email to blast out a plea to his supporters to call their Senators. The article also includes this:
Cuomo met earlier today with several key GOP senators, including two potential “yes” voters, Sens. Steve Saland and Andrew Lanza, and Sen. Kemp Hannon, who is still a “no”, but has been operating as the chief legal mind for the majority conference on the negotiations over religious exemptions.
My inclination is whatever problems any "religious exemptions" compromises may create, they pale in comparison to the historic, milestone, watershed moment that would be New York State affirming LGBT New Yorker's right to marry. They may compromise the bill away from "perfect" but not fatally so. And I trust our negotiators on the inside to make the right call.
I, too, have faith that at the end of the day, the existing Human Rights Law in New York State, and under-pinings of equal protection under the law endowed on all New Yorkers by the Constitution will win the war in the end.
In short, they will create no problems that cannot be fixed. The fears of clerks refusing to issue licenses do not seem founded in reality. We have a strong advocate in both our Governor and our Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who are not likely to have patience for subordinates that behave in nonsensical ways. Loving vs. Virginia did not end discrimination for interracial couples and it's folly to imagine anything could for LGBT people overnight. Our fight was always ahead of us, but this would be an enormous victory.
The fight for the editorial pages is won. Nineteen key papers including New York Times, The Albany Times Union, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, The Buffalo News, Newsday, Staten Island Advance, The Syracuse Post Standard, The Plattsburgh Press-Republican, The Adirondack Express, and the largest Spanish language paper in the country, El Diario are all onboard.
The New York Post was recently the one of the lone voices in the state editorial pages to oppose marriage equality. Basically same old saw about how gays would ruin it for straights:
But if we had a vote, it would be no.
Marriage as an institution has fallen on hard times in recent years. But that's no excuse for weakening it further.
Blogger Joe Jervis of
JoeMyGod said it best: "The entire thing seems to have been ghost-written by Maggie Gallagher."
And even one popular NY Post columnist, and one not known as a liberal firebrand, Andrea Peyser took exception with her paper's position today saying, "this time, it's personal." She shared her families experience coming to accept her lesbian niece and recounted her niece's wedding.
My niece first realized how huge an act her wedding was to be not at the altar, but staring at a piece of paper a few days ago. She went to a local City Hall to sign a marriage license. It blew her away.
"It was powerful," she said. "I had to check a box. There was male and male, female and female. It's completely normal!" she told me.
"I cried."
This is how the world changes. Not with government dictums or activists' chants. But with a single act of love.
I've confronted gay marriage through the eyes of a member of my family who had the guts to be herself. It makes her relatives love her no less. Perhaps even more.
In the run-up to the wedding, I've seen that devotion trumps politics.
May it last a lifetime.
Unfortunately for our opponents, they
cannot make it personal. They can only oppose gay people as an abstract concept, as a stereotype and straw men and women created from fear and heartless lies and slander. This is how we'll win, by revealing our truth. Even to columnists in regressive, right wing newspapers like the
NY Post. They can't take that away from us. Cheers to Andrea Peyser's niece, and to Andrea herself for letting love trump ideology.
And, here's an odd story. Possible swing vote, Greg Ball of Westchester, suburbia above the City, put out a strange request on Twitter on Friday night:
In principle, I highly object to Senators polling Twitter on an issue as important as civil rights. In this specific instance, I hope the feedback weighs very heavily on Senator Ball's mind. It was overwhelmingly "Vote Yes!" "Vote Yes!" "Vote Yes!" "Vote Yes!" "Vote Yes!" "A thousand to one" according to his own office, mitigated by the caveat that most of them weren't from his district. Well, duh, want to talk to your constituents? Go to the mall, Senator! You're in freaking Westchester, I really like the odds you'll hear what I want you to hear.
You can still tell him to "vote yes" at @ball4ny. It's a constant stream. I hope that tells him something about where the outlier opinions are, if the 58/36% polling doesn't.
It did seem odd to ask a venue that any reasonable person could presume to know the answer. I am glad there are no reports of him doing the same at a Baptist Tent Revival.
What To Do? Call Your Senator!
This fight is still very much alive and we need to bring it on home now. Even if you've called, call again. At this point the best thing is for Senators to hear, their constituents want them to vote yes. Make it happen.
And they want a vote on this issue. The only viable procedural road block would be for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to refuse to offer the bill to the floor. This does not look likely, but, it wouldn't hurt for him to know that the state of New York is very much expecting a vote.
Skelos' contact info here. The rest of the
New York Senate is here.
Call tonight and leave a message, and mark it in your day-planner to call tomorrow.
The chances are good this vote will come tomorrow. Let us do more than pray, let's dial the phones and tell Albany to make it so.
Just came to my attention, the Coalition is inviting folks to Albany for the Rally for Love and Marriage:
Tuesday, June 21 · 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location Albany, NY -- West Capitol Park, outside the State Capitol
There are a number of issues still to be resolved in Albany, which means the Legislature will be staying beyond today's June 20th deadline.
We are heartened that there continues to be respectful and productive dialogue on the issue of marriage equality and believe we are getting close to a vote on the Governor's marriage bill.
New Yorkers United for Marriage asks you to join us at a Rally for Love and Marriage tomorrow --Tuesday June 21 -- at noon outside the Capitol in Albany. Together, we will make sure that all New Yorkers will soon be able to marry the person they love.
Facebook event information is here.