NY Assembly Passes Marriage Bill

The New York Assembly has passed legislation to legalize marriage for same-sex couples by a bipartisan vote of 85 – 61. The Marriage Equality Bill now heads to the senate for a vote.

Approval of the bill by the Assembly marks an important strategic and symbolic victory because only one other state's legislature, California, has approved such a bill. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger later vetoed the bill. New York is now one step closer to becoming the second state in the nation, after Massachusetts, to extend marriage to same-sex couples — and the first to do so through a legislative process.

In April, Governor Elliott Spitzer made good on his pre-election promise and introduced the Marriage Equality Bill. It came about after New York's highest court ruled against Lambda Legal's plaintiffs in our marriage equality case.  The court said that New York is not required under its constitution to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The responsibility to grant marriage equality now rests squarely in the hands of the state senate.