Same-Sex Marriage in New York

By: Shannon Ralph

New York is on the cusp of becoming the sixth—and the largest—state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. The New York State Assembly passed the gay marriage bill on Wednesday, and it is likely to face a vote in the Senate on Friday. As it stands, the bill only needs support from one more senator to pass.

This week, a second Republican state senator came forward to support the measure, leaving it a single vote short of passage. The senator, Roy McDonald,  obviously frustrated with the political tension around the issue, vented, “I’m tired of Republican, Democrat politics; I’m tired of blowhard radio people, blowhard television people, blowhard newspapers. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background, I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”

Senator Ruben Diaz, a Pentecostal minister, is the only Democrat out of the party’s thirty senators who does not support same-sex marriage, while Republican senators Jim Alesi and Roy McDonald, have said they will vote in favor of it.

A recent Siena poll found that fifty-eight percent of New Yorkers support same-sex marriage. If the bill passes, same-sex couples could start marrying in New York thirty days later.