Assembly Approves Gay Marriage

WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York was approved 85 to 61 by the state Assembly after an often emotional three-hour debate. The bill is supported by Governor Spitzer, but it's not expected to be acted on any time soon in the Republican-led state Senate.

In the Assembly debate, Manhattan Democrat Daniel O'Donnell said civil unions, permitted in neighboring Vermont, don't give true equality. He's the openly gay brother of Rosie O'Donnell. But Assemblyman Brian Kolb, a Canandaigua Republican, called gay marriage “a direct challenge to me and how I was brought up.” Democrat Dov Hikind, an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, warned the measure could lead to other proposals he found objectionable, such as incest.

Teresa Sayward, a Glens Falls area Republican, spoke emotionally of the struggles faced by her gay son as he grew up wanting “to be normal.” She implored fellow Assembly members to back the bill.

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