Hi all. Just read a slightly distrubing piece on the City Room Blog of the New York Times:
N.Y. Senate Republicans Undecided on a Gay Marriage Vote
Below I'll hit the key paragraph and give you my thoughts.
This to me is the lynch pin of the whole article:
Republican senators met for four hours Wednesday to discuss the marriage issue, and, as they emerged, they said they had not yet reached a consensus about bringing the bill to a vote. The state Assembly now plans to vote on the bill Wednesday afternoon, after Mr. Cuomo agreed to send the “message of necessity” required for an immediate vote because the bill language was just formally introduced on Tuesday.
Couple of points I see here, going from good to bad.
1) The necessity language. This is great, as it allows the traditional waiting period to be lifted. I'm actually a little surprised it didn't come over with the bill itself. But it ensures we can get a vote before the end of session.
2) The Assembly vote. I'm a little more reserved about this. Yes, it's a necessary step to achieving marriage equality. And yes, it's nothing new, as they've done it before. But it ratchets up the pressure on the Senate, and I'm not 100% sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing based on the next item.
3) The lack of a consensus. This could be where losing the Senate is going to come back and bite us hard. I theorized yesterday that Republicans would not be coming out for marriage equality if a) they were not sure it would pass and b) if there would not be a vote on it. Now this could all be theater designed to give members more time for lobbying efforts and the like, but I'm scared this is all for naught if they don't even vote on it.
Senate Republican leaders said on Wednesday that they had not decided whether to take a vote on legalizing same-sex marriage, as advocates were in a full-court press to gain the one vote needed to pass the measure into law before the scheduled end of this year’s legislative session on Monday.
I have to wonder whether or not there will be an announcement of the 32nd vote before the actual vote. Will we know passage is assured through public statements? I tend not to think so.
The key here is whether the vote will even be held. 50 Senators can approve, but if there's no vote, there's no marriage equality. So let's light up Sen. Skelos' office and firmly but respectfully demand he allow the Senators to vote on this:
Albany Office
Legislative Office Building, Room 909
Albany, NY 12247
United States
Phone: (518) 455-3171
District Office
55 Front Street
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
United States
Phone: (516) 766-8383
Email address: skelos@nysenate.gov
UPDATE:
The Assembly is currently considering the marriage equality bill.
You can watch/listen here:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/...
There are also twitter updates here:
@PrideAgenda (http://twitter.com/...)
h/t to cooper888.
Will update with results when they come in!
UPDATE 2:
And it passes the Assembly. Now for the hard part!