New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo says he will not risk another vote on marriage equality until the votes are assured in the Republican-controlled Senate, reports Capital Tonight. This comes after Tuesday's introduction of a marriage equality bill by openly gay Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell.
"This has never been about, on marriage equality, a vote in the Assembly primarily. the assembly has passed it before. People expect it will pass again. The question is what’s going to happen in the Senate. The discussions that I’ve had with the collective group that is working on this in a unified way is we want to pass a bill. we don’t want to bring a bill up in the Senate that will fail, right? We don’t want to have an instant replay of last year. It’s not about having a vote for a sake of a vote. It’s about if it’s going to pass. and the conversations we’re having now will education as to whether we’ll bring the bill to a vote."
In February, the governor delivered his budget address at Hofstra University and said he would push for marriage equality. "Well be working very hard to pass it," Cuomo told reporters.
O’Donnell has led three successful efforts to pass same-sex marriage legislation in the Assembly, most recently by an 89-52 vote in May 2009. The vote failed spectacularly when the Senate took it up for the first time in December 2009. The vote was 38-24, with 8 Democrats joining the entire GOP caucus to oppose the bill.
Thirty-two votes are needed in the Senate. At least 26 senators are publicly committed to passage.
Meanwhile, State Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-South Bronx) is going ahead with his hate rally against gay marriage, set for this Sunday, the same day as the annual AIDS Walk in Central Park. SMH!
Posted by: Nathan James | 12 May 2011 at 17:51