New York State Approves Gay Marriage

New York becomes the sixth state, and by far the largest in the United States, to recognize same-sex unions. The first marriage celebrations could take place in a month.

The mood was festive Friday night in the New York gay community. The State Senate had just narrowly approved legislation recognizing the right to gay marriage, by 33 votes to 29. Four Republican senators voted in favor of the bill. The document needed 32 votes out of 62 in order to be adopted. For years the upper house had been rejecting a bill that had received the Assembly’s green light four times.

The Senate had been gathered in a special session since Tuesday to refine the bill. The law, which was heavily amended by Republican senators in recent days, includes a certain number of exceptions of a religious nature. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a staunch defender of gay rights and instigator of the bill, came into the room after the vote and was greeted with applause.

Outside the Senate building — located in Albany, the state capital situated over 200 km north of New York — dozens of pro- and anti-gay marriage demonstrators had been camping for a week, brandishing signs and chanting slogans. Explosions of joy welcomed the vote in New York City’s gay districts, including Greenwich Village in West Manhattan, where dozens of militants had gathered since the beginning of the evening. The city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who militates in favor of gay marriage, hailed a “historic triumph for liberty and freedom.”

Episcopal Conference “Disappointed and Troubled”

The New York Episcopal Conference, on the other hand, declared itself “deeply disappointed and troubled” by the passage of the law. “We always treat our homosexual brothers and sisters with respect, dignity and love. But we just as strongly affirm that marriage is the joining of one man and one woman in a lifelong, loving union,” said the bishops in a statement. However, a recent survey showed that 58 percent of the state’s population was in favor of homosexual unions.

After promulgation of the text in the evening by Andrew Cuomo, New York became the sixth state, and by far the largest in the United States since it is the third most populous after California and Texas, to recognize same-sex marriages. The other five states that have legalized gay marriage are Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Four other states — Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey — have approved homosexual civil unions without giving the right to marry. The first New York gay marriage ceremonies should begin in a month or so, opening the door to a big wave of gay marriages.

Meanwhile, on June 14, French deputies rejected a bill proposed by the Socialists to authorize gay marriage in France. Yet, French public opinion seems far from being reticent on this issue: In a poll by Ifop to be published on Sunday in the French provincial newspaper “Ouest-France”, 63 percent of French people say they are in favor of it. The gay pride parade that is taking place in Paris this Saturday will be an opportunity for some gay rights defenders to celebrate the historic New York vote.