politics | Celebration as gay marriage passes in New York State, USA (Reply)

Last night, the New York Senate made gay marriage legal 33-29.

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ontd_politicalis a gorgeous picture post: Pride POTD (Pictures of the Day): Special New York Edition June 24, 2011 Feast your eyes on the happy...:)

New York: Activists celebrate gay marriage victory, but the fight goes on

On the streets of the West Village in Manhattan – and especially around the gay-friendly pubs and clubs of Christopher Street, where the modern gay rights movement was born – people celebrated and danced in the streets. Crowds of gay and straight people sang and cheered as the news spread. Mayor Michael Bloomberg also welcomed the development. "Today we are stronger than we were yesterday," he said.

Gay rights activists had focused on New York as the biggest battle so far in their continuing fight to give gay couples the same rights and status as heterosexual ones in America. It became a powerful symbolic battleground for both gay people and their opponents, especially as several high-profile Republican presidential candidates are using the issue in their nascent campaigns.

New York's Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, had made gay marriage a key pledge, but activists had to get a vote through the Republican-controlled state senate. Huge efforts were put into persuading a handful of wavering Republicans to join Democrats in passing the law. One of them, Stephen Saland, had voted against gay marriage in 2009, but gave a speech outlining his change of heart. "My intellectual and emotional journey has ended here today and I have to find doing the right thing as treating all persons with equality," he said.

Another senator, Mark Grisanti, explained his motives for going back on a campaign vow to oppose the move. "I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the same rights I have with my wife," he said. The move made New York's senate the first Republican-controlled legislative body in America to vote in favour of gay marriage.MORE

How the deal was done in Albany

ALBANY - A vote of conscience has left the four Republican senators who helped legalize gay marriage already facing retribution from the Conservative Party.

Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long said the four have lost the backing of the small but influential party for what he deemed their "betrayal" of principles.

"It's absolutely a betrayal," Long said. "They accepted the Conservative Party endorsement. They knew were we stood on the issue."

But Gov. Cuomo and gay rights advocates had the backs of the four senators - Sens. James Alesi of Rochester, Roy McDonald of Saratoga Springs, Stephen Saland of Poughkeepsie, and Mark Grisanti of Buffalo - Friday night after the historic vote.

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