Breaking: Same Sex marriage loses in New York Senate
Adam Bink over at Openleft has the rundown but the count was 24-38
Looks like we need a new Senate.
Oh, why I like Jeremy Moule over at City News who writes
Civil rights? Not here, not now: Senate overwhelming rejects marriage equality
You suck, New York
The State Senate has killed marriage-equality legislation, with 38 no votes and 24 yes votes. Only Democrats voted in favor.
…
No Republicans spoke on the floor during debate, and though leadership left it up to each senator to vote according to his or her conscience, none broke from GOP ranks. All of Rochester’s senators: Jim Alesi, George Maziarz, Mike Nozzolio, and Joe Robach voted no.
Related posts:
- New York State’s Same-sex Marriage Bill, we could have a winner here, folks!
- NYS Senate may have enough votes for same-sex marriage bill to pass (and, look, a surprise proponent!)
- Same sex marriage bill, up for a vote today
- Coalition-making in the New York Senate
- Breaking: New York Senate back in session
If the GOP left it up to individual Senators’ consciences, why did even the ones who had spoken favorably about the bill in the past vote against it? Why didn’t a single Republican explain or justify his or her vote? This was under party instructions, obviously. And as I said in a comment on the post above, think about what that means for New York. The Republican Party has made it policy to deny civil rights to a certain class of New Yorkers. We need to make sure everyone understands that.
Coincidentally today I got a flyer from George Maziarz giving all this information to protect me from H1N1. It had three phone numbers to call his office. I tried all three and they had been disconnected from voicemail (they rang and rang and rang). What a friggin coward!
I’m 50 and due to inertia will probably never leave NYS. My two sons (both gay, BTW) will most definitely find somewhere else to live. The older is about to start grad school in advanced mathematics. The younger is an undergrad (math, too). They will abandon this gdamn state because they are second-class citizens here, not because of the taxes! Jeremy Moule is right: NYS SUCKS!!!!
I’d love to see a billboard with the pictures of our local state senators with the caption “These men do not believe ALL people are created equal.”
Things I heard on various email threads I receive -
Votes were counted and promised and in the end - were not delivered or cast. This also seems like the Democrats in the Senate didn’t really know what they were doing.
Finally - my thoughts - this isn’t a surprise much as we want it to be. There is barely a Democratic majority. There is a false assumption that the Democrats are somehow united on this issue and they are not. It is an equally false assumption that the the Democratic base is somehow united on this issue. To pass - assuming all Dems stood together 3 Republican votes - but - Diaz was always a NO as was Aubertine probably some others - so with each no Dem vote - you need an additional Republican.
In the end - this is yet another glaring example of multiple levels of failure in our state government.
The Dems have never been a united party. This is no shock. I just assume it’s but one step toward the inevitable: a win for gay marriage. It will happen. It just might take some time and targeting.