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By MARCUS FRANKLIN,
Associated Press Writer AP - Friday, April 17 NEW YORK - Gov. David Paterson introduced a bill Thursday to legalize
same-sex marriage in New York, comparing the effort to the fight for the
abolition of slavery.
Paterson, whose job approval rating has plunged below 30 percent, is
making a political gamble that he can ride the momentum of other states
that have recently allowed the practice, and it's unclear how the
legislation will play in New York. The proposal is the same bill the Democratic-controlled state Assembly
passed in 2007 before it died in the Senate, where the Republican
majority kept it from going to a vote. Democrats now control the Senate,
but opponents are vowing to make sure this one fails, as well. Some
Democrats in the Senate have indicated they won't support a same-sex
marriage bill. Gay marriage is a crucial issue of equal rights in America that cannot
be ignored, Paterson said. He was joined by Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, other elected officials, gay
rights advocates and his wife, Michelle Paterson. "For too long, gay and lesbian New Yorkers _ we have pretended they have
the same rights as their neighbors and friends," he said. "That is not
the case. All have been the victims of what is a legal system that has
systematically discriminated against them." Paterson, the state's first black governor, framed the issue in sweeping
terms, invoking Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe and drawing
a parallel between the fight to eliminate slavery in the 1800s and the
current effort to allow gay marriage. "Rights should not be stifled by fear," Paterson said. "What we should
understand is that silence should not be a response to injustice. And
that if we take not action, we will surely lose." Gay and lesbian couples are denied as many as 1,324 civil protections _
such as health care and pension rights _ because they cannot marry,
Paterson said. Quinn, who is openly lesbian, dared anyone to "tell me I deserve less"
than the right to marry her partner. "Look me in the eye and tell me that Kim and I aren't a family, that we
don't struggle every day, that we don't pay taxes, that we don't work
every day in this city," she said. "No one can look me or her in the eye
and tell us that, because it is not true." At the same time Paterson was announcing his proposal, Sen. Ruben Diaz,
also a Democrat but an opponent of same-sex marriage, met with religious
leaders to discuss how to block the bill. Diaz, an evangelical pastor from the Bronx, said his meeting was to
inform Hispanics, Catholics, evangelicals and others opposed to same-sex
marriage of their options to prevent the bill's passage. Diaz said it was disrespectful of Paterson to introduce the legislation
in the same week that Catholics celebrated the installation of New York
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who has voiced opposition to same-sex marriage. "I think it's a laugh in the face of the new archbishop," Diaz said
Thursday before the start of his meeting in the Bronx. "The Jews just
finished their holy week. The Catholics just received the new
archbishop. The evangelical Christians just celebrated Good Friday and
resurrection. He comes out to do this at this time? It's a challenge the
governor is sending to every religious person in New York, and the time
for us has come for us to accept the challenge." Paterson, who attended Dolan's ceremony Wednesday at St. Patrick's
Cathedral, defended the timing of his announcement and brushed off
suggestions that he was deflecting attention from the state's financial
troubles, saying he has supported same-sex marriage publicly since 1994. "I haven't in any way changed my point of view," he said. "We stand to
tell the world we want marriage equality in New York state." Paterson noted he was introducing the proposal with "the winds at our
back," referring to the recent approval of same-sex marriage in Iowa and
Vermont. New York Democrats gained a 32-30 Senate majority in November's
elections. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who did not attend
Thursday's announcement, supports the measure but has said he doesn't
believe there are enough votes to pass it. A Quinnipiac University poll this month showed that 41 percent of New
York voters backed legalized same-sex marriage; that 33 percent favored
civil unions; and that 19 percent wanted no legal recognition for such
couples. In March, a Marist College poll showed Paterson's job approval rating
was 26 percent, down from 46 percent in January and 57 percent in October.
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