Legislation to
legalize same-sex marriage in New York, sponsored by the
gay brother of entertainer Rosie O'Donnell and supported by
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, was expected to be
debated Tuesday in the state assembly in Albany.
Assemblyman
Daniel O'Donnell, a Manhattan Democrat, predicted he would
have more than the 76 votes needed to win approval of the
measure in the 150-member Democratic-controlled
chamber.
In the United
States, same-sex marriage is legal only in Massachusetts,
but nine other states have approved spousal rights in some
form for same-sex couples--Connecticut, Vermont,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine, California, Oregon,
Washington and Hawaii.
Despite Spitzer's
backing, the legislation stands almost no chance of
passage yet in New York's Republican-led state senate.
''We not doing
gay marriage by Thursday, that's for sure, or this year,''
senate majority leader Joseph Bruno declared Tuesday morning
as lawmakers wound down their annual legislative
session, which is due to wrap up on Thursday.
New Yorkers are
split over the marriage issue. A statewide poll out
Tuesday from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute
found that 35% of registered voters supported same-sex
marriage while another 35% supported civil unions but
not same-sex marriage. Twenty-two percent of voters
said there should be no legal recognition of same-sex
unions.
O'Donnell said he
had high hopes that the senate and Bruno would
eventually come around.
''I'm hopeful he
can be educated,'' the assemblyman said.
O'Donnell said he
and his partner of 26 years, John Banta, director of
special events for the American Ballet Theatre, were looking
forward to the day when the measure might be signed
into law.
''We would get
married tomorrow if we could,'' O'Donnell said.
In Massachusetts
lawmakers last week blocked in a 151-45 vote a proposed
ballot measure to constitutionally ban gay marriage.
California, which
now has a domestic partnership law, will probably be
the next major battleground for same-sex marriage. Its
legislature is expected to pass a bill this year
allowing gay couples to marry, although Republican
governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he would veto it. A
separate legal challenge to California's one man-one woman
marriage law is headed to the state supreme court.
(Marc Humbert, AP)
