ALBANY, N.Y. — Same-sex marriage is now legal in New York after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that was narrowly passed by state lawmakers Friday, handing activists a breakthrough victory in the state where the gay-rights movement was born.
New York becomes the sixth state, and by far the biggest, where gay couples can wed.
“We are leaders, and we join other proud states that recognize our families, and the battle will now go on in other states,” said Sen. Thomas Duane, a Democrat.
Gay-rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.
“Once this is signed into law, the population of the United States living under marriage equality doubles,” said Ross Levi, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, in an interview. “That’s certainly going to have a ripple effect across the nation. It’s truly a historic night for love, our families, and democracy won.”
Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state’s size and New York City’s international stature. The gay-rights movement is considered to have started with the Stonewall riots in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1969.
A huge street party erupted outside the Stonewall Inn on Friday night, with celebrants waving rainbow flags and dancing after the historic vote.
The New York bill cleared the Republican-controlled Senate on a 33-29 vote. The Democrat-led Assembly, which previously approved the bill, passed the Senate’s stronger religious exemptions in the measure Friday. Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, signed the measure at 11:55 p.m., and the law will go into effect in 30 days, meaning that same-sex couples could begin marrying in New York by late July.
Cuomo made a surprise and triumphant walk around the Senate, introduced like a rock star by his lieutenant governor, Robert Duffy. The filled upper gallery shouted down to Cuomo, “Thank you!” “Feels good?” Cuomo shouted up with a big smile and thumbs up. “Thank you!”
The passage of New York’s legislation was made possible by two Republican senators who had been undecided.
Sen. Stephen Saland voted against a similar bill in 2009, helping kill the measure.
“While I understand that my vote will disappoint many, I also know my vote is a vote of conscience,” Saland told The Associated Press before the vote. “I am doing the right thing in voting to support marriage equality.” Gay couples wept in the gallery during Saland’s speech.
Sen. Mark Grisanti, a GOP freshman from Buffalo who also had been undecided, also voted for the bill. Grisanti, a Roman Catholic, said he could not deny anyone what he called basic rights. “I apologize to those I offend,” he said. “But I believe you can be wiser today than yesterday. I believe this state needs to provide equal rights and protections for all its residents.”
The effects of the legislation could be felt well beyond New York: Unlike Massachusetts, which pioneered gay marriage in 2004, New York has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license, meaning the state could become a magnet for gay couples across the country who want to have a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons, the romantic Hudson Valley or that honeymoon hot spot of yore, Niagara Falls.
New York, the nation’s third most populous state, joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C., in allowing same-sex couples to wed.
For five months in 2008, gay marriage was legal in California, the most populous state, and 18,000 same-sex couples rushed to tie the knot there before voters overturned the state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the practice. The constitutionality of California’s ban is now before a federal appeals court.
The climactic vote came after more than a week of stop-and-start negotiations, rumors, closed-door meetings and frustration on the part of advocates. Online discussions took a nasty turn, with insults and vulgarities peppering the screens of opponents and supporters alike, and security was beefed up in the Capitol to give senators easier passage to and from their conference room.
The recent sticking point: Republican demands for stronger legal protections for religious groups that fear they will be hit with discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to allow their facilities to be used for gay weddings.
