Three wavering Democratic lawmakers in the State Senate have agreed to support legislation legalizing same-gender marriage in New York, several people with knowledge of the negotiations said on Monday, marking a potential turning point for the long-debated measure.
The three senators — Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., Shirley L. Huntley of Queens and Carl Kruger of Brooklyn — all voted against the measure in 2009, when it failed by a wide margin. Their switch to the yes column leaves all but one Senate Democrat supporting same-gender marriage –and the fate of the legislation in the hands of the Republican majority in the chamber.
Republican senators voted unanimously against same-gender marriage two years ago, but several have indicated in recent weeks that they are undecided. Speaking with reporters on Monday, Dean G. Skelos, the Senate majority leader, said that if a same-gender marriage bill came to the floor, each Republican senator would be free to vote his or her conscience, but he added that he had not formally asked his members where they stood.
The announcement, just days from the end of the legislative session next Monday, signifies the first clear advance in months for advocates of same-gender marriage and a victory for John L. Sampson, the Democratic minority leader, who has spent weeks coaxing a consensus out of his oft-fractious conference.
News of the votes came in the midst of a day of intense activity and fast-moving developments on same-gender marriage, an issue that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has made one of his top priorities for the year.
A top aide to Mr. Cuomo, Steven M. Cohen, said on Monday said he expected the marriage bill to come to a vote in the days ahead and insisted that the measure had enough support in both houses of the Legislature to become law.
But no Republicans have publicly come forward to back the measure and Mr. Cohen did not identify any who had privately committed to voting for it.
Speaking at the Capitol, Dean Skelos, the Republican Senate leader, declared that “If the bill comes to a vote, people are going to be able to vote their conscience,” though he stopped short of guaranteeing that the bill would reach the Senate floor.
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11 Responses
Kruger is a nogeia b’davar.
At the end of the day, the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” will show who they really are.
As long as their votes were not needed, these guys, from more conservative-minded districts, pretended to support family values.
But, now that the “heat is on,’ from Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg, from the entire leadership of the morally-corrupt Democrat Party, these creeps are showing their true loyalties.
When will Flatbush finally vote out Kruger?
Sen. James Alesi, an upstate Republican, also announced his support for the same sex marriage bill today. That leaves the bill only one vote short of passage assuming the Democratic Lieutanant Governor casts a tie breaking vote in favor.
This is great news. The sweet irony is that we got the frumma to vote for the pro-same-gender-marriage candidates. I love it.
Looks like he wants to make it official with Turano.
I wonder if his flipping has anything to do with buying the silence of those who know damaging information in his corruption indictment.
Shame on Dov Hikind. He just supported a candidate that is pro To’eiva.
Shame on you dove hikind and our so called “orthodox” shelly silver.
Dov and shelly “you cannot buy our support with a couple of dollars to Boney Olam”
You are not being bonei olam “you are destroying the world”
Call your State Senator and leave the message that you are deeply opposed to legalizing same-gender marriage and will be watching to see how the Senator votes on this important issue. To be connected to your State Senator, or If you don’t know who your State Senator is, call the Senate operator at 518-455-2800.
America’s openness and progressive attitude of acceptance has been an enormous help to our community and one of the main reasons we have had such success in this country. It would be shortsighted to argue that it must stop at the point we find it unhelpful. This is the price you pay for living in a democracy. It’s a price well worth paying.
berelshain,
We’ve been able to practice Yiddishkeit here for more than two centuries without Sodom and Ammora legislation – why can’t we continue?