New York Governor David Paterson announced legislation this morning that would legalize same sex marriage in the state. The same bill passed the state Assembly, but was defeated in the state Senate in 2007, according to CNN. The New York state Senate is currently ruled by a slim 32 to 30 Democratic majority and many reports indicate that the bill’s passage in the Senate is unlikely. If the legislation is passed, New York would be the fifth state to permit same sex marriage in the United States after Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont.
In his lengthy remarks, Governor Paterson said “We have all known the wrath of discrimination. We have all felt the pain and the insult of hatred. This is why we are all standing here today. We stand to tell the world that we want equality for everyone. We stand to tell the world that we want marriage equality in New York State I am not in any way attempting to instruct the majority leader of the Senate or the speaker of the Assembly I am here to speak against those who are antagonistic and antithetical and always have been, not only to marriage equality, but equality, for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. The reality is that for me this is the time to fulfill the dreams of our founding Constitution, which implored us to expand the rights of the union,” reported the New York Times.