New York News Blog

​Back in 2008 the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Arizona, and state senators Martin Golden and Serphin Maltese sued New York because Governor Paterson had directed state authorities to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere. They lost in State Supreme Court. The Fund went back at it, going to the higher Court of Appeals, and this morning they lost again. (Update: To be clear, the complaints in today's case are different from that brought in the former, and have to do with directives of the State Department of Civil Service and Westchester County.)

The court's ruling is described as "narrow," meaning that while they affirmed that state agencies could acknowledge same-sex couples' marital status in bestowing benefits specified in the complaint, they did not rule out all challenges to benefits for such couples in New York...

Gay marriage is on the special session agenda in Albany today. Earlier the Lower Hudson Journal found state senate Democratic leader John Sampson "noncommittal" on its chances in the chamber, slimly controlled by the Democrats, and now the senate has delayed the vote. Reports indicate a lack of sure votes was the motivation. Tomorrow is a federal holiday, which means it won't be reconsidered till Thursday, if then.

They're still negotiating other bills, meanwhile, including Governor Paterson's budget cuts, parole reform, foreclosure law, etc. Claims of progress have been made.

​Our e-mail box was flooded this morning with desperate pleas to call our state senator and demand that gay marriage come up for a vote during the special session of the New York state legislature called his week by Governor Paterson.

But we wondered, just days after a legislative victory was overturned by voters in Maine, and a year after California voters did the same, can something like that happen here?

If a vote is called on the gay marriage bill (looking likely, sometimes next week), and if it passes (looking less likely), won't apocalyptic dipshit Maggie Gallagher and her ilk bring their circus to New York and whip up enough voters to overturn the law, amend the constitution, or alter the space/time continuum in some other way to stop gays from marrying?

Despite the Democrats' previously avowed non-compliance, state legislators of both parties will attend Governor Paterson at 3 p.m. today as he warms them up for tomorrow's special session with a speech. The Governor is expected to push for a vast array of financial measures to close the $3-billion-plus state budget gap -- without any of the weird taxes he had floated earlier -- and also gay marriage, which the legislators are expected to furiously attempt to avoid. In an interview with Towleroad, Paterson, in keeping with his previously-exhibited fight-the-good-fight attitude, says that while "I think there's this feeling that if legislation fails that it's this colossal loss for the cause. I find it to be motivational."

As Maine doesn't go, so goes New York, maybe: Governor Paterson says that along with the pressing budget issues for which he called the special session of the legislature for Tuesday, he's also going to push the gay marriage bill, which he proposed in April but which got set aside as Albany pursued other pressing issues.

Good luck. The state senate Democrats, never wholly cooperative with the unpopular Governor, are already saying they won't participate in his Monday joint address to the legislature. "We would certainly prefer to use that time productively," says their spokesman.

We can only imagine how they feel about taking up the volatile marriage equality issue, particularly as the Republicans have been licking their lips over the anti-gay ammo such a bill would provide them politically. Courage isn't one of the senators' signal attributes.

Give him credit for trying, though. Maybe the legacy-minded Gov can team up with fire-breathing Senator Tom Duane and push the bill through by brute force.

​Yahoos displeased by the results in NY-23 may take comfort that Maine appears to have rejected the marriage equality bill that was passed by its state legislature in May. For example, National Review's Thomas Peters: "My favorite part of last night's election coverage was watching Rachel Maddow's demeanor go from exuberant, to smug, to infuriated over the results of the marriage referendum in Maine.... let them never forget, but rather, let them Remember (the) Maine! Bully for them." Michelle Malkin, Bob Roony ("Maine seems heading to repeal law legalizing fags marriage. Good. I am happy. I am very happy"), GOPThinker, et alia concur.

At the same time, Maine voters approved the licensing of non-profit organizations to dispense medical marijuana.

The State of Washington approved partnership benefits for same-sex couples by a narrow margin last night, but it would appear that, when civil rights are put up to plebiscite, gay marriage loses.

Here's something we didn't think about when we mentioned those 100,000 absentee ballots already collected in Maine's gay-marriage referendum: the population of Maine is about 1.3 million. So rather more than 10 percent of the electorate have already cast their ballots. (Maine voters need not give a reason for requesting to vote that way.) But these votes aren't counted till today.

So given the close margin indicated in polls, and the late surge reported at the voting booths (leading to more paper ballots, which take more time to count than machine votes), it's probably going to be a while before we see a result.

Gay marriage supporters -- that is, Question 1 opponents -- are partying at the State of Maine Ballroom of the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, Maine. We hope for their sake there's an open bar.

Turnout is reported heavy in Maine, where voters are faced with a referendum on the marriage equality law passed last spring. ("No" on Question 1 means yes to keeping gay marriage.) State officials say voting is exceeding expectations, and over 100,000 absentee ballots have been filed.

This is seen as encouraging news by many gay marriage supporters. Less sanguine are opponents, who are lashing out at "Maine homosexual activists" who "promote counterfeit (same-sex) 'marriage'," etc. "If cold weather and occasional showers keep seniors away from the polls throughout the day," glumly surmises Thomas Peters of National Review, "marriage in Maine could be in trouble." And the governor is supporting a "No" vote.

Don't open the champagne yet, though...

​Expect the city to be a little less gay this weekend. Thousands of gay and lesbian New Yorkers will be heading out of town to attend the National Equality March
in Washington, D.C.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and presumptive incoming Queens City Councilman Danny Drom have organized bus trips which will be leaving from all over the city. Groups as varied as Broadway Impact, Marriage Equality New York, schools and churches have also chartered buses to attend the largest ever gay March on Washington. (Tickets are now scarce, but as our colleagues over in events point out, you can attend this weekend's Polyamorous Cuddle Party in Central Park and get a free ride to the march after.)

The march will end on the Capitol Mall, with Quinn joining Cleve Jones, Lt. Dan Choi, Judy Shepard and others to speak. Despite the fact that the march route will go right past his house, President Obama will not be addressing the assembly, many of whom have criticized the newest Nobel Peace Prize Winner for not making peace with them. However, he is concerned enough about not making good on his campaign promises to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Defense Of Marriage Act that he will address the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner the night before.

Just last week, we told you how dethroned Miss California Carrie Prejean -- maybe you've heard a little about her -- spoke at the Value Voters Summit in D.C. As usual, she was peppering her language with baubles of high-minded moralism like there was some kind of Skinner Box treat in it for her.

This is brought up only to once again contrast her very-official public persona with yet another round of racy photos that have just found their way into the media bloodstream. Just in time for meta-Halloween, you can don the sexy costume of a conservative Christian girl wearing a sexy costume. TMZ stumbled onto the pictures, which were taken for the Woman of Marvel costume line.

You'll remember that Prejean's enemies hit the Schadenfreude jackpot back in May when topless pictures of the supposedly ultra-religious beauty queen made the rounds. Donald Trump refused to fire her as Miss California at that time but rethought that position a month later. Prejean's ascension from half-naked model and pageant contestant to inadvertent right-wing golden child began when she spoke out against gay marriage at the Miss USA pageant last April.