New York Be the Sixth State to Legalize Gay Marriage | Fox News

Contents:

• NEW YORK BE THE SIXTH STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• THEY FOUGHT FOR GAY MARRIAGE. A LATER, ADVOT REFLECT ON THE 'HERCULEAN FEAT.'
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

NEW YORK BE THE SIXTH STATE TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE

Thomas Duane, a rights advot are hopg the vote will galvanize the movement around the Uned Stat and help rega momentum after an almost intil bill was feated here 2009 and siar measur failed 2010 New Jersey and this year Maryland and Rho New York is a relative lateer allowg gay marriage, is nsired an important prize for advot, given the state's size and New York Cy's ternatnal stature and s role as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, which is nsired to have started wh the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village 1969. I'm so exhsted and so proud that the New York State Senate fally stood on the right si of history, " said Queens teacher Eugene Lovendky, 26, who is gay and said he hop to marry then repeated a chant he had screamed durg a prott at a fundraiser for Print Barack Obama last night: "I am somebody.

""I have never be prour to be a lifelong New Yorker than I am today wh the passage of marriage equaly, " Cyndi Lper said a effects of the law uld be felt well beyond New York: Unlike Massachetts, which pneered gay marriage 2004, New York has no rincy requirement for obtag a marriage license, meang the state uld bee a mag for gay upl across the untry who want to have a weddg Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara York, the natn's third most populo state, will jo Connecticut, Iowa, Massachetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the Washgton pal district allowg same-sex upl to five months 2008, gay marriage was legal California, the biggt state populatn, and 18, 000 same-sex upl shed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court lg that allowed the practice. Changg the law would require a nstutnal nventn, a long, drawn-out stickg pot over the past few days: Republin mands for stronger legal protectns for relig groups that fear they will be h wh discrimatn lawsus if they refe to allow their facili to be ed for gay climactic vote me after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiatns, mors, closed-door meetgs and tratn on the part of advot. Onle discsns took on a nasty turn wh sults and vulgari pepperg the screens of opponents and supporters alike and secury was beefed up the pol to give senators easier passage to and om their nference night before, Print Obama enuraged lawmakers to support gay rights durg a fundraiser wh New York Cy's gay muny.

THEY FOUGHT FOR GAY MARRIAGE. A LATER, ADVOT REFLECT ON THE 'HERCULEAN FEAT.'

Dpe New York Cy's liberal Democratic polics and large and vol gay muny, prev efforts to legalize same-sex marriage failed over the past several years, part bee the rt of the state is more nservative than the bill's succs this time reflected the powerful support of Cuomo and perhaps a change public attus.

Opn polls for the first time are showg majory support for same-sex marriage, and Congrs recently repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that barred gays om servg openly the the week leadg up to the vote New York, some Republins who opposed the bill 2009 me forward to say they were supportg for reasons of nscience and a duty to ensure civil rights. Prsure to vote for gay marriage also me om celebri, athlet and New York Cy Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Republin-turned-pennt who has long ed his own fortune to help bankroll Republin mpaigns and who personally lobbied some uncid lawmakers. But on June 24, 2011, when the New York Legislature passed the state’s marriage equaly measure, only 46 percent did, barely surpassg the 45 percent who opposed the right of gay upl to wed.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

“Even plac like Mississippi or Alabama, at some pot they were gog to have a problem wh the full fah and cred clse of the Constutn if they say, ‘We'll accept straight marriag om New York but not gay on. ’”A group walks down Fifth Avenue durg the New York Cy gay pri march on June 26, Honda / AFP via Getty Imag fileIt wasn’t a bloodls victory, though: The four Republin state senators who crossed the aisle to support the bill all were out of office wh the next few years.

That set off an tensive effort among a bipartisan group of proponents the Senate — boosted quietly by a aln of fluential Republin donors and operativ, some of them gay — to fd the at least 10 Republin vot necsary that chamber to move the Senate, the legislatn was revised to addrs ncerns among some Republins that would punish or rtrict the relig eedom of stutns that refe to regnize same-sex marriag. The unexpectedly high number of Hoe Republins supportg the bill July — nearly a quarter of them — propelled her bid to cut a bipartisan al the Senate, but she urged Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majory lear, to wa until after the electns to brg to a strategy drew the ire of some progrsiv who were eager to exact a polil price om Republin opponents of the measure, but yield the hoped for rult: The legislatn passed the Senate last month wh the support of 12 Republins, exceedg the 60-vote thrhold that has trated many a bipartisan the Hoe floor on Thursday, a para of Democrats — some of them gay, many of speakg about their own same-sex marriag — stood to make the se for the measure. “Today, we will vote for equaly and agast discrimatn by fally overturng the homophobic Defense of Marriage Act and guaranteeg ccial protectns for same-sex and terracial marriag, ” Reprentative David Cicille, Democrat of Rho Island, said on Thursday the moments before , at a ceremony to celebrate and officially transm the legislatn to Mr.