Hats off to Gov. Spitzer for gay marriage bill

Volume 1, Number 33 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | May 4 - 10, 2007

Editorial

“Promise made, promise kept” is the pithy comment State Senator Tom Duane offered in response to the April 27 introduction by Governor Eliot Spitzer of his program bill to enact marriage equality for same-sex couples.

“The governor helps frame the public agenda, and his strong formal support raises the credibility and visibility of the issue enormously,” added Chelsea Assemblymember Dick Gottfried, who with Duane has sponsored the marriage measure in recent years.

When Spitzer took office in January, expectations of gay marriage supporters could not have been higher. Even with impressive initiatives that increased funds for LGBT health and social service programs, the big waiting game has remained the timing of the governor’s marriage push.

Now, with marriage proponents building impressive legislative support, especially in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, Spitzer has put his formal imprimatur on the push for full equality.

He is to be congratulated for responding to a politically sensitive challenge with a bold public step.

To be sure, many others deserve credit as well. Key friends in the Legislature—Duane and Assemblymembers Daniel O’Donnell, who now assumes sponsorship of the bill in his chamber, Deborah Glick and Dick Gottfried, all Manhattan Democrats, and all, save Gottfried, out gay officials—have worked hand in hand with the governor’s advisers to make this day possible. Matthew Titone’s victory in the recent special election to a Staten Island Assembly seat as an out gay man and Craig Johnson’s February win in a special Long Island Senate race as a marriage equality supporter also contributed valuable political impetus.

The strong team of advocates that Alan Van Capelle leads at the Empire State Pride Agenda deserve praise for building a broad coalition of support—among activists, labor leaders, religious figures and legislators—for moving marriage equality forward.

Van Capelle astutely notes that work in Albany now begins in earnest.

We look to the governor for continued vocal leadership and call on City Council Speaker Quinn to use the power and prestige of her position to advance the cause. Quinn can be especially effective in pressing Assembly Speaker Silver to follow through on his commitment this week to poll his fellow Democrats on whether to bring the issue to a vote this session. Should they signal their support, Silver should assume a key leadership role in the marriage equality fight.

The Republican-led state Senate is a tougher nut, and here we will count on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to fulfill the pledge he made in an interview with Chelsea Now’s sister paper The Villager late in 2005: to testify personally in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples. When asked if he would support gay marriage legislation in Albany, the mayor responded, “I will go and testify... When I say I’ll do something, I’ll do something.”

Assembly action is achievable this year and would shift the debate enormously. Responsible Republicans such as the mayor can help transform the playing field in Albany—in the Senate and Assembly—so that gay marriage becomes inevitable much sooner than later.