Posted by Governor David Paterson announced this morning the Marriage Equality Program Bill, a piece of legislation that would legalize gay marriage in New York State.
Paterson reintroduced the legislation that died in 2007, after it was passed by the State Assembly, surrounded by city leaders, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Christine Quinn, the openly gay City Council speaker, and other state and union leaders.
“We stand to tell the world that we want equality for everyone,” said Paterson from a news conference on the East Side. “We stand to tell everyone that we want marriage equality in the state.”
Advocates say gay and lesbian couples are denied 1,350 civil protections, including health care and pension rights, because they cannot marry.
The legislation will face opposition from both the narrowly Democratic-controlled New York State Senate and the new archbishop.
The governor, who is a long-time advocate of gay marriage, is hoping to capture some of the momentum provided by other states that have passed legislation recently.
He framed the issue in historic terms, drawing a parallel between the fight to eliminate slavery in the 1990s to the current effort to allow gay marriage.
“I understand the trepidation and anxiety that people are feeling today. Rights should not be stifled by fear,” Paterson said to cheers. “What we should understand that silence should not be a response to injustice. There is no gain without struggle. ”
Archbishop Timothy Dolan vowed yesterday to work to defeat the legislation, saying he would not shy away from the controversial topic.
“I would have things to say about that, you bet,” Dolan said. “And of course, I wouldn’t be making them up. It’s pretty well articulated — the teaching in the church, from the Holy See in Rome, from the Conference of Catholic Bishops. We’ve expressed our position on that. You could expect me to articulate that with all the clarity and credibility that I can muster.”
The governor said that openly-gay State Senator Tom Duane and openly-gay State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell will lead the fight to get the bill passed.
Following the governor’s announcement, the Conservative Party released a statement opposing the proposal as a “deliberate attack on the sanctity of marriage.”
Source: NY1
While I think it is great the Governor wants to legalize same-sex marriage. I wonder if this is his “Gold Diggum Statue” tactic (refer to Family Guy) to avert the public from his poor ratings in the polls, the state’s economic crisis and tax increases down the pike.