HRC to Enter N.Y. Marriage Fight

The Human Rights Campaign announced Friday that it would enter the fight for marriage equality in a big way in New York with the launch of the Campaign for New York Marriage, to be headed by Brian Ellner, who recently lost a high-profile bid to lead the statewide LGBT rights group, Empire State Pride Agenda.

Focused on the state senate, where a marriage bill failed late last year by a vote of 38-24, the Campaign for New York Marriage will work to reelect senators who voted for marriage equality, defeat legislators who opposed the bill, and elect candidates who support equality to open seats, according to a news release from HRC.

“The HRC campaign will work closely with allies and key campaigns to deliver the help they need such as fundraising, campaign workers, door to door canvassing and phone banks,” said the release. “In addition, the Campaign for New York Marriage will strengthen or build coalitions of community, business and faith leaders and mobilize HRC's 70,000 New York members, supporters and donors.”

The announcement, reported early Friday afternoon by The New York Times, arrives at a critical time in New York, where Democrats hold a razor-thin 32-30 majority in the senate in advance of a fall election campaign animated by an anti-incumbent mood. Marriage equality needs to close an eight-vote gap in order to pass the senate, where eight Democrats joined all 30 Republicans in voting against the bill in December. On Thursday attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo expressed his confidence the bill could pass in 2011 if he is elected, but sealing the deal hinges on closing the gap in the senate.

“We’re on the cusp of marriage equality in New York in a way that is important to LGBT marriage efforts across the nation,” said HRC vice president of communications and marketing Fred Sainz in an interview Friday afternoon with The Advocate. “It’s very, very doable.”

Sainz said the Campaign for New York Marriage solidified in the past month when Ellner, a former senior education aide to New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, became available.

“HRC always planned on being involved,” he said. “Our plans have jelled within the last month, and we were delighted to have Brian Ellner come be the senior strategist for the campaign. We’ve always had plans since we lost that bruising battle in the state senate.”