History in Albany? Let's watch it together

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11/10/2009

by Jeremy Hooper

We're not sure when, exactly, the New York Senate will vote on the marriage equality bill. But when that happens, you'll be able to watch it live right here:

"Opposite marriage" spokesperson Carrie Prejean is in NYC today on her book tour. Let's send her the best souvenir ever -- whatdya say?

We'll let you know as soon as we have a time.

*UPDATE: The NY Daily News says it may not happen at all: Justice delayed, justice D-NYed?

**UPDATE2: Looks like today won't be the day: N.Y. Senate Delays Vote on Gay Marriage Bill [NYT]

Keep hope alive, folks.

**The Empire State Pride Agenda's Alan Van Capelle has offered the following thoughts:

Marriage must get its long-deserved vote today

Statement by Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle

November 10, 2009

Today, as the State Senate goes back into session, we expect that the marriage
equality bill will get the overdue, respectful debate that we’ve been waiting
for since June.

Our community has spent the past few years making the case to 62 State Senators
for why we should be treated equally by the laws of our state. The time for
making cases is over. We’ve heard dozens of excuses and we’ve been told
countless times that we’ll have to wait for equality. We’ve been told before
that the time isn’t right to end discrimination against tens of thousands of
families. The excuses and the waiting must end today.

Hundreds of LGBT New Yorkers will be coming to Albany today to hear their lives
debated on the Senate floor. New York State Senators will now need to do the
right thing and debate this human rights bill and vote to treat these
families—and the millions of others that cannot be here—like all other New York
families.

To not bring this bill to the floor for a debate would be a slap in the face to
every LGBT New Yorker. We have waited far too long for the basic respect of a
vote from our elected State Senators on an issue that affects our daily lives
and the lives of our loved ones.

This vote will be a vote of conscience for all Democrat and Republican
Senators. There is no room for politics in a human rights issue like this. When
this bill passes, it will be bipartisan. This is a deeply personal issue for
Senators because they know that they will have to go back home to their sons
and daughters, their nieces and nephews, their friends and neighbors and
explain how they voted on this bill.