Marriage Equality In NY May Not Be Dead After All

There has been a lot of concern here in NY that some back room political shenanigans by the "Gang of 3" conservative Democrats could lead to an unholy alliance with the Republicans. In November, the Democrats gained the majority in the Senate. However, electing a leader has caused some drama.

Why should you or I care?

One of the conservative Senators is on record as being against marriage equality. If he were to gain control of the Senate, he would prevent it from coming up for a vote. That would put us in no better position than when the GOP controlled the Senate. The Assembly has passed this in previous session and Governor Paterson said he would sign it if it passed the Senate and came to him for approval.

Now the good news. The conservatives didn't win the battle for control.

New York state Democratic Sen. Malcolm Smith has won the support of three dissidents who flirted with backing the Republicans, giving the Democrats control of the state Senate for the first time since 1965, an Albany-based spokesman for Smith said on Thursday.

Smith, who represents NYC, will formally be elected to his new position in January, when the new Democrats who won a slim majority of two seats in the 62-seat chamber in the November elections will be sworn in. "The Gang of 3 has signed on with Smith," the Albany based spokesman said. The three dissidents, who had sought greater sway for Hispanics, among other issues, met on Thursday with Smith.

Marriage equality isn't a done deal, but we've averted a problem.

Read the full article at The New York Times.