NY Gov pushes for Sept. marriage vote
David Paterson will push the State Senate to pass a same-sex marriage bill in a special session.
Tags: David Paterson, marriage, Marriage Bill, Ny Gov, same sex marriage, Special Session, State Senate, VoteGov. Paterson to push for vote on same-sex marriage in September
(Albany) New York Governor David Paterson announced that he will push the State Senate to vote on legalizing same-sex marriage in a special session in early September. Gov. Paterson, a supporter of marriage equality, said that he will push for the vote in the fall because the Senate is not …
Tags: Albany New York, David Paterson, Early September, Legalizing Same Sex Marriage, marriage, Marriage Equality, same sex marriage, Sex New, Special Session, State Senate, Vote, York GovernorThe New York Blade Suspends Publication
The New York Blade, one of the two major gay and lesbian newspapers in New York City, has laid off its editor in chief and suspended publication, the chief executive of its publishing company said on Wednesday.
“Everyone was let go, but the people on The Blade know that they may come back if The Blade is coming back,” said the executive, Matthew Bank, of HX Media, which was formed in 2005 by the merger of The Blade and HX Magazine.
The moves came on Tuesday after HX was sold to undisclosed buyers. The Blade, a biweekly paper with a free circulation of 22,000, was left with an uncertain future.
“It doesn’t have an issue scheduled until a week from Friday.” Mr. Bank said. “There are a lot of things that can happen between now and then.”
The decision to suspend publication comes at a particularly active period for journalism concerned with gay issues: the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the gay pride parade on Sunday, the proposed same-sex marriage bill in the State Senate and discontent over the Obama administration’s performance on gay-rights issues.
“It is an incredibly exciting time for gay journalism,” said Kat Long, who had been editor in chief of The Blade since February. “It’s important that gay papers are around to document it.”
Paul Schindler, editor in chief of Gay City News, the rival New York City gay newspaper, said The Blade had “made good contributions over the years.”
See New York Gay Newspaper Suspends Publication
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Se3nate Power struggle impedes New York gay marriage vote
New York’s annual Gay Pride parade was a colorful celebration of 40 years of progress toward civil rights for gays, but once the dust settled, gay couples who wish to marry in New York state remain thwarted.
A bill to legalize gay marriage in the state that saw the dawn of the gay rights movement is mired in political stalemate in the state capital Albany, where Democrats and Republicans are battling over control of the state Senate.
“I had hoped today’s march would have been a bit of a wedding march. It’s not,” Christine Quinn, the gay speaker of the New York City Council, said at Sunday’s Gay Pride parade. Held annually, this year’s event marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York’s Greenwich Village, which triggered the modern U.S. gay rights movement.
“We are disappointed. … But I know there have been other times our community has been disappointed and you need to keep fighting,” Quinn said at the start of the parade, which organizers said drew more than a million people.
Gay couples can marry in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa and will be allowed marry in Vermont starting in September and in New Hampshire from January. Other states offer same-sex unions that grant many of the same rights as marriage.
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Poll: More New Yorkers support gay marriage
(Albany) A poll finds growing support for same-sex marriage in New York as a bill languishing in the state Senate is scheduled for a special session.
The Quinnipiac University poll finds 51 percent of New Yorkers support the legalization of same-sex marriage. Forty-one percent oppose it.
This is the first time the …
Tags: gay marriage, Legalization Of Same Sex Marriage, marriage, Quinnipiac University Poll, same sex marriage, Sex New, Special Session, State SenatePaterson Vows Vote on Gay Marriage Before Break
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson said in an interview Sunday night that he would make sure that the State Senate votes on same sex-marriage legislation before it breaks for the summer, hours after he and his administration had refused to commit to forcing a vote on the issue.
The development came as the governor announced plans to call the Senate to a special session on Tuesday, after trying unsuccessfully for two weeks to broker a compromise in a leadership battle that has deadlocked the chamber. But Mr. Paterson dismayed gay rights groups in his comments at a news conference early Sunday afternoon, when he said same-sex marriage would not be on the special session’s agenda.
“It has always been my intention to see same-sex marriage come to the floor,” he said, adding, “I don’t want there to be any confusion.”
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Deleware Gay rights bill heads to full state Senate
The state Senate next week will debate a bill adding sexual orientation to Delaware’s anti-discrimination laws.
Newark-area Democrat David Sokola says he’s grateful Senate leaders let him offer his own version of the bill.
Audio Here
During the past 10 years, similar bills have reached the Senate only to die in committee or as the result of a so-called “desk-drawer veto”, but Senate Insurance Committee members Wednesday voted 5-0 to send Sokola’s measure, which has the support of Governor Markell and key House leaders, to the full Senate.
Sokola says he expects spirited opposition from the bill’s opponents, but is confident the measure will pass. See Gay rights bill heads to full state Senate
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NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges
With what some are describing as a “circus” in Albany, many gay marriage supporters fear that proposed legislation recognizing same sex marriage in New York will not come up for a vote in a state Senate in flux.
And now, one group is also trying harder to keep that from happening. The National Organization for Marriage announced Tuesday that they have set up a Political Action Committee for New York to fight the measure.
With the announcement, Executive Director Brian Brown also said that the first $500,000 raised will be used to back a primary challenger to GOP Senators who vote for gay marriage.
“The first half million dollars will be used in GOP primaries,” Brown said. “But we are also looking to aid Democratic candidates who want to buck the establishment on the marriage issue, and to help in general election contests.”
Brown said politicians were ignoring “the wishes of their own constituents.” See NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges
CBS News
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In RI, some wary as tide of gay marriage rises
PROVIDENCE - From a cramped office in the middle of the smallest state in the nation, Christopher Plante is determined to prove that Rhode Island has not been cornered by the advance of same-sex marriage across the rest of New England.
“When I look at a real map of the United States, we’re actually not alone here,” said Plante, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex unions. “This is not the United States of New England.”
But supporters and even some opponents expect that Rhode Island will legalize same-sex marriage, although they say that legalization is two or three years away.
Massachusetts and Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage as a result of judicial decisions in 2003 and 2008, while Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire followed this spring by legislative action.
The slower pace in Rhode Island, where the state Senate voted last week to allow same-sex partners to make funeral arrangements, has frustrated some local activists, many of whom rallied outside the State House in Providence last weekend to call for immediate equality.
But others say that legalization by 2012, a goal advocates set last year for securing same-sex marriage in all New England states, would put Rhode Island at the front of the pack nationally. In the rest of the country, only Iowa allows same-sex couples to marry.
“They still have a chance to be part of the vanguard,” said attorney Karen L. Loewy, the Rhode Island point person for GLAD, which won the lawsuits in Massachusetts and Connecticut that legalized same-sex marriage in those states. “Rhode Island is well on its way.”
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Gay marriage closer in NH
(Concord, N.H.) The New Hampshire State Senate voted today 14-10 to pass the equal marriage compromise bill - but locals say that the House is a harder sell.
The compromise bill includes a provision that allows any religious institution to decide who they will marry.
“The changes augment, buttress and bolster the …
Tags: Compromise Bill, Equal Marriage, gay marriage, Locals, marriage, New Hampshire, Nh Concord, Provision, Religious Institution, State Senate
