All Eyes On The Empire State - UPDATE: Bill Fails 38-24

Taking a page from D.C.'s soon to be successful gay marriage legislation, New York's State Assembly has passed a same-sex marriage bill and is finally on the way to the State Senate.

By clearing the path for a vote, Senate Democrats have removed the last remaining obstacle for a debate on the same-sex marriage bill, which has never been put to a vote in the Senate despite repeated efforts by gay rights advocates.

But Democrats, who have a bare, one-seat majority, do not have enough votes to pass the bill without some Republican support.

In a debate that in many instances was cast in unusually personal tones, many senators delivered emotional speeches on the floor of the chamber, equating the struggle for gay rights to the civil rights movement or the battle women have waged for equality.

One of the bill’s sponsors, State Senator Thomas K. Duane of Manhattan, who is gay, said the bill would finally give him something that as a New Yorker he has never enjoyed.

“This legislation would merely provide me and tens of thousands of other New Yorkers with equal rights in New York State," Mr. Duane said. “It would make me equal in every way to everyone else in this chamber.”

(More after the jump...)

Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who represents Manhattan’s Upper East Side and another of the bill’s sponsors, said her grandparents came to the United States to escape persecution against Jews. As a Jew and a woman, Ms. Krueger said her decision to support same-sex marriage was easy to make.

But State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx made an impassioned argument against same-sex marriage, describing his continued opposition as reflecting the broad consensus that marriage should be limited to a union between a man and woman. “Not only the evangelicals, not only the Jews, not only the Muslims, not only the Catholics, but also the people oppose it,” he said.

Senate Republicans said Wednesday morning that they believed their members could provide a few votes for the bill, but it was not certain whether those votes would be enough to offset the handful of Democratic no votes that are anticipated.

“There may be a few, that’s very possible,” said Senator Thomas W. Libous of Binghamton, the deputy Republican leader who said he will vote against the bill. “Everybody’s feeling is get it on the floor and let’s vote it up or down. It’s been talked about enough. Let’s get it done. I think it’s going to be very close.”

So we'll see.  A vote on this could come as early as tonight, and Gov. David Paterson has said he will sign the bill into law.  New York also does not have a referendum process, so opponents cannot use it to try to block the measure the way California and Maine opponents were able to.

Good luck, New Yorkers.  Here's your chance to kick some ass.

[UPDATE 3:53 PM] The Daily Beast is reporting the State Senate bill failed rather miserably, 38-24.

[UPDATE 2 4:30 PM] According to Elizabeth Benjamin's count at the NY Daily News, not a single Republican voted for the bill and 8 Dems voted against it. NY State Senate Dems completely bailed on this bill. The promised Republican votes for this bill never materialized, but make no mistake, it was the Democrats who voted this down.