Just in Time for the Pride Parade

The New York state senate has passed Governor Andrew Cuomo's Marriage Equality Act by a vote of 33-29. All Democratic senators but Bronx pastor Ruben Diaz, Sr. (who spoke vehemently against the measure) voted to support the measure. They were supported by Republicans Roy McDonald and James Alesi, who had announced their intentions to support the bill before the vote, and also Steve Saland, who spoke at length about his decision, and said, "I hope that my parents would be proud." Mark Grisanti, too, spoke touchingly about his change of heart. The latter group had held out for alterations in the bill designed to offer increased protections to religious groups who object to same-sex nuptials. Those amendments were agreed upon Friday afternoon and passed in the assembly 82-47 in the early evening. Once the bill is signed by the governor, New York will become the sixth and largest state to legalize marriage for gay couples, more than doubling the number of self-reported gay couples allowed to marry in the United States. It joins New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and the District of Columbia, which variously legalized marriage equality through the legislatures and through court rulings.


Cuomo's updated bill, which grants same sex couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples, will go into effect thirty days after it is signed into law.

From New York Magazine by Chris Rovzar.

Special Thanks to all the bold-faced names above...