Shortly before midnight last Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the law that made his state the seventh jurisdiction in the nation to sanction marriage equality.
New York is now the largest state to allow same-sex marriage and, with the adoption of the marriage-equality law, the number of Americans living in areas that allow same-sex marriage is doubling.
Marriages in New York will be permitted at the end of July.
The bill went to Cuomo’s desk minutes after it passed the Senate in a bipartisan 33-29 vote, in which four Republicans broke ranks with their party to support the measure. The marriage-equality victory marks the first in a Republican-controlled legislative chamber.
As the votes were being cast, crowds began to fill the streets outside of the Stonewall Inn, considered the birthplace of the gay-rights movement more than 40 years ago, with Friday’s occasion instead turning celebratory as word of the vote spread.
In Philadelphia’s Gayborhood, the bar crowds started their own celebrations as news spread via Twitter, Facebook and, in the case of Sisters, through an onstage announcement during the venue’s burlesque show.
The vote came two days before New York City’s annual Pride parade, which this year was led by Cuomo.
Empire State Pride agenda executive director Ross Levi said the victory was years in the making,
“The bill that was passed is a direct result of more than a decade of work on the ground, changing people’s minds and opening their hearts,” Levi said, noting that about 10 years ago, statewide polling found only about 30 percent of residents in favor of marriage equality, a number that has since jumped to nearly 60 percent today.
“Legislators listened to the will of the people, who believe that granting loving, committed couples the ability to marry is the right thing for New York,” Levi added. “Because of our community’s hard work and role in recent elections, we changed the political calculus and allowed our elected officials to vote for what they believe is right.”
Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese hailed the vote as historic and said it sent the message that “marriage equality across the country will be a reality very soon.”
President Obama, who was in New York for an LGBT fundraiser Thursday night, has yet to come out in favor of marriage equality, which some expected to happen in advance of the New York vote.
In a statement released last weekend, White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said Obama “has long believed that gay and lesbians deserve the same rights and legal protections as straight couples. That’s why he has called for repeal of the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ and determined that his administration would no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA in the courts. The states should determine for themselves how best to uphold the rights of their own citizens. The process in New York worked just as it should.”
As New York debated the issue earlier this month, a marriage-equality bill was reintroduced in the New Jersey legislature; however, speaking on the topic of the New York law over the weekend, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he would not sign such a measure and believes the state’s civil-union law is working effectively.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].