The State Senate delayed a highly anticipated vote on same-gender marriage on Tuesday, putting off the issue indefinitely as “Toeiva” rights supporters continued to lobby for additional votes.

Republicans and Democrats said that as of Tuesday afternoon, the measure was still several votes short of the 32 necessary for approval. About five Democrats remained either opposed or noncommittal, meaning that Republican votes were needed to secure passage.

But not enough Republicans have committed to voting yes, legislators said. The Democrats have a 32-30 majority in the Senate.

It was unclear when the Senate would take the issue up. Wednesday is Veterans Day, a holiday, meaning that it would be at least the end of the week before the Senate could vote on the bill.

“It sounds like today is just not going to be the day,” said Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Democrat from Manhattan, who has been one of the Toeiva marriage bill’s main proponents. “There are a lot of us who want to see it voted on and passed as soon as possible. So if today’s not the day, I think our views on the overall strategy don’t change.”

Senators entered the chamber shortly after noon and took up a resolution honoring veterans. They left without addressing more substantive issues, and the Senate printing press had not begun printing any bills.

Other factors in addition to the lack of support were also at work in delaying a vote, which Gov. David A. Paterson and Toeiva rights advocates have been aggressively pursuing. Mr. Paterson called the Legislature back to Albany this week for an emergency session to close a budget gap that now exceeds $3 billion. Lawmakers have said the budget – not same-gender marriage – was their first priority.

With no agreement between Mr. Paterson and legislative leaders on how to cut $3 billion from the budget, many senators have been unwilling to put the same-gender marriage bill up for a vote first.

Asked when that might happen, Mr. Espada said he guessed that it might be sometime next week. “We’ll come back next week. That’s the scenario that I think is reasonable.”

(Source: NY Times)