By JACOB GERSHMAN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 20, 2007
ALBANY — For gay rights advocates, yesterday's vote in the Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage was a watershed moment to be celebrated. For many lawmakers in the chamber, it was a day of hard political calculations, painful choices, and apprehension.
The Democrat-led Assembly last night voted to 85 to 61 to allow same-sex couples to wed in New York, the first time that a legislative body in the state has approved gay marriage. The vote pushed New York closer to becoming the second state in the nation to legalize gay marriage, after Massachusetts, and the first to do so through a legislative process.
About 80% of Democrats in the body voted in favor of the bill; only four out of 42 Republicans did so.
Slowly the tide is turning in favor of equal right as more northeast states start to realize the by not allowing everyone the to get married is discrimination.
There was also a light side to the debate…
Mr. Hikind, an Orthodox Jew who represents Borough Park in Brooklyn, warned that lawmakers by supporting gay marriage were paving the path toward sanctioning incest. He said he would support gay marriage if God gave him a signal. Moments later, there was a loud crack of thunder, provoking laughter.
I guess that didn’t even sway him because he voted against the bill.
Not that I wish the Mr. Hikind any ill, but... did he need the lightning to STRIKE him to get the message??
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