The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) on Wednesday announced a four-year plan to repeal gay marriage
in New York.
On Friday, New York's
Republican-controlled Senate passed and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed
into law a gay marriage bill, making the Empire State the most
populous state yet to legalize the institution. The law takes effect
on July 25.
NOM, the country's most vociferous
opponent of gay marriage, had already pledged $2 million to oust the
four GOP senators who voted for the legislation, and in a blog post
the group unveiled its plan to reverse the law – in four years.
NOM's plan includes growing a majority
in the Legislature to approve a constitutional amendment for the 2015
ballot.
Responding to the plan, the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest gay rights advocate, said
NOM is “spinning their wheels.”
“A bipartisan supermajority of New
Yorkers support marriage equality today,” the
group wrote. “Four years from now – when NOM hopes to
reverse marriage equality through a ballot initiative – this
supermajority in the Empire State will only be stronger and more
bipartisan.”
“Americans move in one direction on
this issue – toward equality, not away from it. The ship has
sailed.”
NOM has previously successfully
campaigned against gay marriage laws in California and Maine. But in
both instances putting a ballot question before the voters didn't
require Legislative approval, a significant barrier in New York.