News
2006-10-10
Spitzer says he
would push for same-sex marriage
New York's
leading candidate for governor, Atty. Gen. Eliot
Spitzer, said on Thursday that he will push to
legal
New York's
leading candidate for governor, Atty. Gen. Eliot
Spitzer, said on Thursday that he will push to
legalize same-sex marriage if he is elected in
November, staking out a position that most prominent
Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have shied
away from, reports The New York Tiimes.
Spitzer made the
remarks to the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state's
leading gay rights group, telling the audience, ''We will
make it law in New York.'' If elected, Spitzer would
be the most prominent state official in the nation to
call for the legalization of same-sex marriage, though
Democratic candidates for governor in California and
Massachusetts have also expressed support.
Spitzer's
position could be a perilous one for a politician considered
presidential material, and he has acknowledged that if
elected governor, he would first push other
legislative priorities, including cutting property
taxes and overhauling Medicaid. But during Thursday's
fund-raising dinner, he said he would not let outside
pressures influence his stance on marriage.
''We will not ask
whether this proposition of legalizing same-sex
marriage is popular or unpopular; we will not ask if it's
hard or easy; we will simply ask if it's right or
wrong,'' he told a crowd of nearly 1,200 gathered at a
Midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom. ''I think we know in
this room what the answer to that question is.''
Even with a
governor's support, there is the not-insubstantial obstacle
of the state legislature, said the Times.
Same-sex marriage bills have not advanced beyond committees
in the assembly, where Democrats have an overwhelming
majority, and would face a difficult path in the
Republican-controlled senate. Spitzer's Republican
opponent, John Faso, does not support marriage equality.
(The Advocate)
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