What Happened In New York?

In a surprise vote, marriage equality was defeated in the New York Senate by a vote of 38 to 24.

New York’s political tradition is that bills do not get brought up for a vote if there is any doubt about its passage. This is a stinging defeat for Governor David Paterson, who long ago went on record as a supporter of marriage equality. The bill was also supported by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Only one person who opposed the bill spoke during the public debate prior to the vote.

So, how did this fail?

Basically, people lied.

All thirty Republicans voted against the bill, as well as eight Democrats, including Hiram Monserrate, once known as a strong advocate for the LGBT community.

Openly gay Senator Tom Duane, the bill’s primary sponsor, issued a press release stating that “promises were not honored.”

Senator Kevin Parker called it “The worst example of political cowardice I’ve ever seen. Clearly people said things prior to coming to the floor and behaved differently.”

Once again, religious groups ignored the separation of church and state to influence the outcome.

Once again, an organization that claims to be concerned with people’s well-being spent $600,000 on a hate campaign instead of using those funds to benefit the disadvantaged.

And once again, gay people have spent a great deal of money (in this case, $1 million for legislative races) only to have no return on that investment.

The New York vote only strengthens my belief that a federal strategy is the only way that gay rights will become law.