- Title: USA / FILE: New York Senate says "yes" to same-sex marriage
- Date: 25th June 2011
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 21, 2011) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC IN TIMES SQUARE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISTY CAROSELLI, STUDENT, SAYING: "I think that if someone loves someone, it doesn't matter what sex they are. They should be able to love each other and be able to get married, and have all the benefits that we have. " PEOPLE WALKING IN TIMES SQUARE (SOUN
- Embargoed: 10th July 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA7L4NLBITCXNSLFS5JTGES2RS
- Story Text: New York's state legislature gave final approval on Friday (June 24) to same-sex marriages, a key victory for gay rights ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.
New York will become the sixth and most populous U.S. state to allow gay marriage.
Earlier, during the Senate proceedings, New York Republican Senator Stephen Saland said he would support the bill to legalize gay marriage, giving the measure enough votes to pass when it was finally voted on.
"My intellectual and emotional journey has ended here today and I have to define doing the right thing as treating all persons with equality and that equality includes within the definition of marriage," said Saland.
State senators voted 33-29 to approve marriage equality legislation introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat in his first year of office.
Cheers erupted in the public gallery of the Senate after passage of the bill, which was approved earlier in the state Assembly.
After Cuomo signs the bill into law, same-sex weddings can start taking place in New York in 30 days, though religious institutions and nonprofit groups with religious affiliations will not be compelled to officiate at such ceremonies.
President Barack Obama, who attended a fundraiser in New York on Thursday (June 23) for Gay Pride Week, has a nuanced stance on gay issues. Experts say he could risk alienating large portions of the electorate if he came out strongly in favor of such matters as gay marriage before the 2012 elections.
During the 2008 election Obama picked up important support from Evangelicals, Catholics, Latinos and African-Americans, some of whom oppose gay marriage, which has become a contentious social issue being fought state-by-state.
In California a judge last year overturned a ban on gay marriage, but no weddings can take place while the decision is being appealed. It could set national policy if the case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage, and Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey approved civil unions. The first legal same-sex marriages in the United States took place in Massachusetts in 2004.
Gay marriage is still banned in 39 states. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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