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Source: Reuters -
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Gay rights activists are looking to a possible vote to legalize
same-sex marriage in New York State as a way to drive a national
campaign that opponents say has lost momentum.
Five US states have already legalized gay marriage - Iowa,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont - but earlier
this month voters in a sixth, Maine, chose to repeal such a law,
which was due to take effect in September.
Forty US states have laws banning gay marriage.
New York's Democratic-controlled State Assembly passed a bill
legalizing same-sex marriage in May, but the proposed legislation
faces a tougher battle in the Senate, where the party has a slim
majority.
Governor David Paterson, a Democrat who supports gay marriage, has
urged the upper chamber to pass the bill and vowed to sign it into
law.
New York is one of the most politically liberal states in the
nation, but it is also home to large numbers of Catholics and
African-Americans, many of whom oppose gay marriage.
Two recent polls showed a majority of New York voters in favour of
allowing same-sex couples to marry, but one other poll showed the
public evenly split.
"Winning gay marriage in New York will be a boost for gay marriage
across the country," said Alan Van Capelle, the executive director
of the Empire State Pride Agenda, a group that is lobbying for the
legislation.
"I am optimistic that this will come to the floor for a vote (on
Tuesday) and that it will pass," he said.
But Maggie Gallagher, the leader of the anti-gay marriage group,
National Organization for Marriage, said she did not believe the
bill would earn the needed Republican support.
"I don't think it was ever true that the culture had shifted on the
gay marriage question," she said.
"To the voters, this was very strange. The politicians were
obviously listening to something other than the people's
priorities."
Some observers say the battle may have been complicated by a New
York congressional election this month that saw a gay marriage
opponent and third party candidate force pro-gay marriage
Republican Dede Scozzafava out of the race.
Although the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, won the election,
the surge in support for conservative Douglas Hoffman may make
moderate Republicans think twice about supporting the proposed bill
in New York.
"I think Republicans who might have been supportive in the past
might have been spooked by the Owens-Scozzafava-Hoffman race,"
Malcolm Smith, a Democrat and the Senate president, told the New
York Times.
Progressive state
Gay marriage is also on the agenda in neighbouring New Jersey,
where Democratic Governor Jon Corzine has pledged to sign a bill
into law if it is passed by the legislature before his term ends in
January.
Corzine lost re-election this month to anti-gay marriage
Republican Chris Christie
But it remains uncertain if lawmakers in New Jersey, which already
permits same-sex civil unions, will bring the issue to a vote.
Civil unions afford couples largely the same rights as those of
married couples - from insurance coverage to tax benefits and
hospital visiting rights.
Steven Goldstein, who heads Garden State Equality in New Jersey, a
pro-gay marriage group, said objected to suggestions that the Maine
referendum or the outcome in New York would dictate what happens in
his state.
"You could not pick two states more different than Maine and New
Jersey," he said.
"We follow New Jersey values and New Jersey is a progressive
state."
US President Barack Obama recently won a standing ovation at a
dinner held by Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, when he
said he would fight for their causes and renewed a pledge to end
restrictions on gay service in the military.
But many gay activists complain that Obama has done little to back
up his rhetoric on gay rights, including not repealing the Defense
of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from forcing
states to recognize gay marriage.
"There's tremendous frustration with the White House," said Jeffrey
Campagna, a political fundraiser and the founder of the New York
gay-rights group The Power.
"It's time for this inspirational political figure to speak out on
behalf of civil rights."
