New York assemblyman
Fred W. Thiele announced his support for marriage equality
today, according to the Log Cabin Republicans of New York. His
cosponsorship of the legislation makes Thiele the fifth
Republican in the state assembly to support marriage equality,
and the first to express new support this year.
Thiele -- who
represents Suffolk County on Long Island, including the
Hamptons -- opposed marriage-equality legislation in 2007, the
year it passed the assembly by a vote of 85 to 61 with
bipartisan support. He credited his recent reversal to mounting
evidence about the inadequacies of civil unions.
"I am committed to
the civil rights of all New Yorkers," Thiele said in a press
release distributed by the Log Cabin Republicans of New York.
"I didn't support the bill in 2007 because I thought equal
rights could be guaranteed through civil unions. Since then
more states have experimented with civil unions as separate but
equal, only to find that discrimination persisted in health
care and other areas. The only way to ensure equality is by
giving all couples access to the same civil right -- the right
to marry."
Thiele joins Republican
members of the assembly Teresa Sayward, Dede Scozzafava, Joel
Miller, and Janet Duprey, all of whom support marriage
equality. It is expected that the legislation, which could be
brought to the floor for a vote as early as this week, will
pass the Democrat-controlled assembly as it did in 2007.
In the senate, where
Democrats hold a razor-thin 32-30 majority, Republican votes
will be needed to pass the legislation when it is brought to
the floor for a vote. Republican leaders said last month that
members would be free to vote their conscience on the
issue, but so far no Republicans have announced support
publicly.
Jeff Cook, legislative
adviser for the Log Cabin Republicans, declined to discuss the
vote count among Republicans in the senate, but he said that
his group continues to work toward garnering the support needed
to get the legislation passed this year.
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