The New York chapter of gay GOP group
Log Cabin Republicans has joined the push to legalize gay marriage in
the state.
Supporters announced on Wednesday that
they'll attempt to overcome a 2009 loss in the Senate by banding
together four prominent gay rights groups – Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), Empire State Pride Agenda, Freedom to Marry and Marriage
Equality New York (MENY) – under a single umbrella organization
called New Yorkers United for Marriage.
The
new effort will be coordinated from Governor Andrew Cuomo's office.
On Thursday, the Republican gay group
announced it would become the 5th group to lobby for
marriage equality.
Gregory T. Angelo, chairman of the
group's New York chapter, announced the group's support.
“Marriage is not a progressive or
conservative issue. It's an issue of equal rights for taxpaying
citizens in this state,” he said in a statement. “For the first
time, we are truly united in our fight to ensure every single New
Yorker has the right to marry the person he or she loves.”
The Log Cabin Republicans have their
work cut out for them: not a single Republican in the Senate voted for
the bill in 2009.
The group's entry, however, is another
sign of the GOP's increasing support for marriage equality. A legal
challenge to California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, is being
litigated by former solicitor general Ted Olson, a Republican, and
Republicans have heavily financed the effort.