NY gay marriage showdown could be Wednesday

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NY-gay-marriage-showdown-could-be-Wednesday-1433541.php


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — It's a familiar scene with a major twist: New York lawmakers meet behind closed doors in the frantic last days of a six-month legislative session with a big pile of seemingly unconnected issues on the table in front of them.

This year, however, there is intense national focus on one big issue left dangling: gay marriage. The 32 Republicans meeting will decide, maybe as soon as Wednesday, whether to send a bill approving same-sex marriage to the floor for a full vote. Only three Republicans need to vote for it to make New York the sixth state where gay marriage is legal.

Republican leader Dean Skelos said he didn't discuss gay marriage in two private meetings Tuesday with Gov. Andrew Cuomo or other meetings with the Democratic leader of the state Assembly. Tuesday was the last scheduled day of the legislative session, but it appears that legislators will stay one more day and could still take up gay marriage.

What started as an aggressive push last week by Cuomo, a Democrat who made gay marriage one of his main policy initiatives in his first year, has ground to a halt while competing interests vie for the issues dearest to them.



Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NY-gay-marriage-showdown-could-be-Wednesday-1433541.php#ixzz1Pw5hWkfK

[ccharles000]

1. k/r

[RKP5637]

2. I want to move to a more gay friendly state than here. I would love to add NY to

my list of potential places to live. I don't like living in a state where being gay is a state crime, and they cling to that hoping the federal law will go away one day. It just tells me about some of the people that smile to your face and stab you in the back while ever so very christian and godly.

[TheWraith]

3. Actually, it's not federal law, those laws were overturned by the Supreme Court.

Lawrence vs. Texas, 2003. And the odds of that precedent being overturned is roughly in the same league with me suddenly growing wings. For that matter the state law is automatically invalid--if they haven't removed it from the books, a court challenge can do that.

[RKP5637]

4. Here is some more on it ... This was just voted on again to keep it criminal.

Defying SCOTUS, Kansas Keeps Anti-Gay Laws On The Books

"Just in case anyone had the slightest doubt about whether this was an oversight, or a misunderstanding, listen to the words of John Wheeler, the president of the state's District Attorneys' association:

“Even to this day, homosexuality is a crime in Kansas."

Wheeler made those comments in 2008, a full five years after the Supreme court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas, and his remarks were made before a collegiate audience. Although such laws are technically unenforceable, the deliberate effort to keep them on the books is both chilling, and a very clear message by Kansas to its gays and lesbians: "You are unacceptable, criminal, and we will make every effort to hasten the day when we can start throwing you in jail again, just because of who you are and who you love".

http://www.subchat.com/otchat/read.asp?Id=749400

[beyurslf]

5. And, because it is against the law, they can arrest you, book you, detain you, and charge you.

It is not until you get in front of a judge that you can get it thrown out. And, if you have a hostile judge at your first appearance and you don't know the law yourself, you may have to wait until you are assigned an attorney or hire an attorney, so that you can fight it.

[RKP5637]

6. Not a pleasant state IMO. And Brownback for gov. I don't like to sound negative, but

no wonder some people are moving out of Kansas. I've read articles that it's more than for jobs.