Same-sex Marriage | The New York Observer

Anti-Peralta Literature Invokes Same-Sex Marriage

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:11:59 -0500

Here's an anti-Jose Peralta flier making it's way around the district, noting that he is supportive of same-sex marriage.

"Jose Peralta voted 3 times for the gay marriage bill," the flier says.

This is the third flier for this race I've seen today.

Opposing same-sex marriage is one of Hiram Monserrate's main arguments as to why he should be back in the State Senate after he was expelled.

UPDATE: The P.A.C. targeting Monserrate responds to the "hate fliers"...

After NY-23, Duprey is Challenged on the Right

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:50:01 -0500

ALBANY—The first of what was predicted as "challenges" after the Democratic Congressional victory in the North Country has materialized: a former Republican official announced he will run in a primary against Assemblywoman Janet Duprey.

Dave Kimmel, who was the party chair in the Town of Plattsburgh, will publicly announce his bid against Duprey tonight. His stated reason is to make Albany accountable to the people and "fight and give businesses what they need to...

Poll: People Don't Like the Legislature. Really.

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:30:57 -0500

ALBANY—Quinnipiac University just released a poll with blistering results for the state legislature: 72 percent of voters surveyed disapprove of the job its doing, 76 percent said their government is dysfunctional, 46 percent says their state senator should be voted out of office and 60 percent say the offenses for which former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno was convicted represent "business as usual."

"It's a polling cliché that voters don't like the legislature but...

Poll: Legislative Structure Needs Change

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:30:13 -0500

ALBANY—Almost two thirds of voters surveyed in a poll released today say that New York's part-time legislative system needs to be changed. They just have no idea how.

"Only 31 percent of voters favor the current system of part-time state legislators who can have outside jobs and incomes, but voters cannot agree on how to best change the system," said Steve Greenberg, a spokesman for the Siena Research Institute. "Better public disclosure of the...

Paterson's Toilet Humor

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:15:41 -0500

ALBANY—Cindy Adams was the only reporter to attend David Paterson's holiday fund-raiser yesterday, and she evidently made it to the VIP after-party.

A sharp reader notes that her column today contains this account of a conversation with Paterson, at Cru:

HIS Excellency the Chief Executive of the Godblessus State of New York the Right Honorable David Paterson Himself had a small do this week. Through a meatball hors d'oeuvre at Cru downtown, he said:...

Pride Agenda Backs Monserrate Challenger

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:37:49 -0500

ALBANY—Less than a week after Hiram Monserrate voted against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, the Empire State Pride Agenda has endorsed Jose Peralta for his Senate seat.

"José Peralta has demonstrated time and time again that he is a champion of equality and justice for all New Yorkers and has consistently represented the interests of his district in the New York State Assembly," said Alan Van Capelle, the organization's executive director, said in a statement....

What if His Name Were Zaddabbo?

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:43:47 -0500

ALBANY—Add another one to the list of reasons a bill legalizing same-sex marriage failed in the State Senate: alphabetical coincidence.

Republicans called for a rare slow roll-call vote, which meant that senators in alphabetical order were called on to say yea or nay. Here's an alphabetical list of the senators: three of the first four were key bellwether votes on the bill.

So when Joe Addabbo, the Queens Democrat who voted second, said, "Nay,"...

Dromm: Monserrate Gets a Vote on Marriage

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:49:53 -0500

Incoming City Councilman Danny Dromm pointed out the irony that Hiram Monserrate, despite his recent legal trouble, was able to vote against the same-sex marriage bill.

Dromm, whose Jackson Heights district overlaps with Monserrate's, told me: "Here's a guy who was found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend, yet he takes a vote on whether two loving people have the right to marry?"

Dromm, who is openly gay, has already endorsed Monserrate's opponent, Jose Peralta, in next...

The Gay-Marriage Opponents Are Safe, For Now

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:59:44 -0500

They may be on the wrong side of history, but—at least for the near future—most of the New York state senators who voted down gay marriage on Wednesday will not pay a political price.

The measure lost by a surprisingly lopsided 38-24 count, with eight Democrats joining all 30 of the chamber's Republicans in opposition. In defeat, Senator Tom Duane, the openly gay author of the marriage legislation, cried betrayal and derided...

Paterson: Marriage Failed in 'Stampede'

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:28:00 -0500

ALBANY—David Paterson said he was "surprised" that legislation legalizing same-sex marriage failed by such a large margin--24-38--in the State Senate, and that he isn't going to push for another vote anytime soon.

"I won't reintroduce the issue unless I see substantial change in the position of the legislators," Paterson said this morning on WHAM. "If I saw some change next year I would reintroduce it."

He said yesterday, in a floor appearance after the...

The Thousand Fathers of Marriage Inequality

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:45:14 -0500

ALBANY—What went wrong?

Despite the spin, most everyone pushing for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage privately acknowledges that the 24-38 loss in the State Senate was a whopper, and while theories abound, there's no clear explaination for how the bill was so soundly defeated.

Senator Eric Schneiderman started by blaming Republicans.

"If you look at the Assembly, there were lots of Republican yeses," the liberal Manhattan Democrat said. "I don't believe it. They clearly decided...

Pro-Marriage Spin: 'Betrayal,' 'Road Map,' 'Contagious Lack of Backbone'

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:13:48 -0500

ALBANY—State Senator Tom Duane just shared his feelings on the chamber floor after the failure of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

"I'm angry, I'm disappointed, I'm sad, I'm let down, I'm betrayed, but I am not going away," Duane said. "It makes me angry, but it doesn't in any way make me or anyone in the LGBT community feel the need to back down, because people have been, uh, uh, betrayed. People have...

Ruth Hassell-Thompson Commits

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:02:35 -0500

ALBANY—Move another vote into the yes column on same-sex marriage.

Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson said she will support the measure, having been previously counted as uncommitted.

She revealed she has a gay brother, who was shunned by her family--her mother is a preacher--and moved to France. Hassell-Thompson only later in life, after a long search, found him. She said when he died, in a committed relationship, "those things that he should have been entitled to...

Diane Savino: Protecting the Sanctity of What, Exactly?

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:56:07 -0500

ALBANY—During the debate on same-sex marriage in the State Senate, Diane Savino just made a point in dramatically personal fashion against those who want to protect the "sanctity" of marriage: "What are we really protecting?"

"We're giving away husbands on a TV show," Savino, a Staten Island Democrat, said. She referenced The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and The Littlest Groom.

She said that the most interesting lobbying on the issue she had experiences came from...

The Same-Sex Marriage Debate, Live

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:35:01 -0500

You can watch the debate, live. Wish we had this sort of thing in the City Council.

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