The New York Senate approved a landmark
gay marriage bill on Friday night, making the Empire State the
largest and most populous state to allow gay and lesbian couples to
marry.
Four Republican Senators – Stephen
Saland, Mark Grisanti, Roy McDonald and James Alesi – joined all
but one Democrat, Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, in voting in favor of
Governor Andrew Cuomo's bill.
While two GOP senators, McDonald and
Alesi, had announced last week their support for the measure, Saland
and Grisanti remained mum on their decision until they spoke on the
Senate floor.
Saland told lawmaker that his parents
would be proud of his decision and Grisanti said he couldn't find a
valid argument against allowing gay couples to marry.
Earlier in the day, the Assembly, which
approved the bill last week, passed
a Senate amendment to the bill that broadened its religious
protections.
The amendment, which was put up for a
vote before the gay marriage bill in the Senate, won passage with a
36-26 vote.
Passage ends years of lobbying for gay
rights groups who lost a similar fight in the same chamber two years
ago. Upon hearing of the bill's passage, proponents who had lined
the Senate hallways for days began chanting, “USA! USA! USA!”
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to
Marry, predicted the win would have a transformative effect on the
nation.
“Now that we've made it here, we'll
make it everywhere – and as Americans' hearts open and minds
continue to change in favor of the freedom to marry, the momentum
coming from New York's giant step forward brings a nationwide end to
marriage discrimination closer than ever,” Wolfson said in a
statement.”
The measure's sponsor in the Assembly,
Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, called the win “momentous.”
“I have been with my partner John for
over 30 years, and, at long last, the state where we were both born,
raised, and have lived our adult lives has agreed that all New
Yorkers deserve Marriage Equality in the eyes of the law,” he said.
The bill now heads to the desk of
Governor Cuomo for his signature.