m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 1 民意支持率都58%了，共和党把持的参议院还是不让投，TNND，直接搞公投算了！
那些支持共和党的gay们，醒醒吧！
Marriage Equality Bill Stuck in New York Senate
By Julie Bolcer
Albanyx390 (Getty) | Advocate.com
New York state senate Republicans will meet Thursday morning to continue
their discussion about whether to bring the marriage equality bill to the
floor for a vote, with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg scheduled to
address the stuck conference.
The conference, expected to begin around 10 a.m., follows a four-hour,
closed-door conversation on Wednesday in which the 32 members of the
majority party failed to arrive at a decision on bringing the bill to a vote
. The legislative session is scheduled to end this Monday.
One excuse for senate inaction disappeared on Wednesday night, when the
Democratic-controlled assembly passed the marriage equality bill for the
fourth time since 2007 by a bipartisan vote of 80 to 63. Currently, 29
Democrats and two Republicans support the bill in the senate, where it needs
one more vote, which must come from a Republican, to pass. Some Albany
watchers expect that more than one Republican would be needed in order to
provide political cover.
Majority leader Dean Skelos said last year that he would recommend that a
marriage equality bill come to the floor for a vote pending consultation
with his conference.
Political considerations rank high on the list of Republican concerns as
they seek to maintain and even grow their slim 32 to 30 majority in the
senate, the last bastion of GOP power in the state, in the 2012 elections. A
series of polls shows that while a majority of voters statewide including
Democrats and independents support the issue, the Republican base still
opposes marriage equality. The Conservative Party of New York State has
vowed not to provide its influential endorsement to any lawmaker who votes
for the bill.
Other Republican senators, notably Greg Ball of Putnam County, have
expressed concerns that the religious exemptions in the bill submitted by
Gov. Andrew Cuomo are inadequate. Ball seems to want language to clarify
that religious organizations should not be required to provide services such
as adoption and foster care against their religious beliefs, a position
that appears to be a non-starter with Cuomo and the advocates. The New York
State Catholic Conference, a powerful lobbying force in the capital, would
not support a marriage equality bill under any circumstances, with
Archbishop Timothy Dolan likening a same-sex marriage law to the tyranny of
Communist regimes.
On Monday, Cuomo, a Democrat with high approval ratings, announced that
three undecided senators from his party who voted no in 2009 would support
the bill this year. The news was followed by announcements of support from
two Republicans who voted against the bill two years ago. The governor has
made calls to other undecided Republicans according to reports.
As the pressure mounts on the GOP conference from both sides, New York City
mayor Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to address the Republicans at their
meeting Thursday morning. The mayor, a Republican turned independent and
significant financial contributor to the conference, delivered a major
public speech in favor of marriage equality last month, when he also
traveled to Albany to lobby, and on Wednesday night he phone banked for the
cause in Manhattan with celebrities including Lance Bass and Russell Simmons
. Bloomberg has contributed $350,000 to the New Yorkers United for Marriage
Equality campaign, which has raised almost $2 million in the past two months
, more than half of it from Republican donors. | D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 2 Whoever gay supports the GOP is either NC or simply selfish (about their own
little pocket). |
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