UPDATE @ 3:20 PM: The Governor has sent the "Marriage Equality Act" to the Senate. Game on. There's going to be a vote. Timing unclear. The memo on the bill is here and the bill itself can be found here and here. The Marriage Equality Act bill memo is available here .
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A comprehensive update from the WSJ. The article is titled "Tide Turning on Gay Marriage" :
Four lawmakers who voted against gay marriage two years ago, including one Republican, declared on Monday that they would now vote in favor of allowing gays to wed.The Governor knows how to count votes. And, he knows how to get votes.
Their public statements—deliberately timed to emerge just before the end of the legislative session—added significant momentum behind passage of same-sex marriage legislation. Shortly afterward, after huddling with gay leaders, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would advance a gay-marriage bill, setting the stage for a vote this week.
"This is a very significant development...I believe the votes will be there for marriage equality," said Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat. "We're moving toward the goal line, but we're not there yet. We need Republicans to take up this issue."
Some Republicans, including those against the measure, said they thought the bill would pass. "It's too close to fail," said one Republican senator, who predicted that four or five Republicans would vote for the bill.
And, of course, the Catholic Archbishop is now engaged in the lobbying effort:
Timothy M. Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, was briefed of the situation in Albany as he arrived in Seattle to lead a national gathering of bishops. "He's following the developments from Seattle, and we anticipate that he's making calls to certain senators," said Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, the policy arm of New York Catholic bishops.The NY Daily News has more on Dolan's tactics:
New York's top Catholic sought to slow momentum Tuesday toward a state Senate vote to legalize gay marriage.As I've said many times before, Catholics don't listen to their leaders. Some politicians still do. But, Cuomo is Catholic. He knows what he is up against -- and knows that a solid majority of NY Catholics support marriage.
"The stampede is on," Archibishop Timothy Dolan wrote in a blog post. "Our elected senators who have stood courageous in their refusal to capitulate on the state's presumption to redefine marriage are reporting unrelenting pressure to cave-in."
He equated the move to allow same-sex marriage to life in China or North Korea, where "government presumes daily to 'redefine' rights, relationships, values and natural law."
"Please, not here!" Dolan continued. "We cherish true freedom, not as the license to do whatever we want, but the liberty to do what we ought."
The NYT got NOM's Brian Brown to comment:
“What the governor is attempting to do is create a myth of inevitability,” said Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, which is planning a flurry of TV advertisements in Republican districts and coordinating 500,000 telephone calls to Republican senators in the coming days.Ha. I'll trust Cuomo's vote counting over NOM's. These must be rough days for Brian. He knows the tide has turned. He's on the wrong side -- and the losing side of history.
“I don’t think the votes are there,” Mr. Brown said.
Andy Towle posted a video of the GOP Senator, James Alesi, who supports marriage:
Remember, in the New York State Senate, the roll call is done alphabetically. Two of the no votes last time were Abbadabo and Alesi. That set the tone. Now, those two are on our side.
