Gay Marriage Bill Evokes Unity in NY: Analysis

New York's Assembly this week took on one of the most contentious issues of our times and rose to the occasion through soaring rhetoric and personal stories of pain by gay legislators denied the ability to marry.
    
Democrats and Republicans in New York's first public debate in two years on legalizing same-sex marriage helped define both sides of the landmark issue. The oratory provided fodder for supporters and political cover for opponents. And it all was aimed directly at the Senate, which presently is just short of the votes needed to make the bill a law.
    
It was Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, a Manhattan Democrat and gay brother of entertainer Rosie O'Donnell, who was credited with winning Wednesday night's vote to pass a same-sex marriage law in that chamber. Although the outcome wasn't in doubt, the winning margin was closely watched. After nearly four hours of what many consider the best debate Albany has seen in at least a decade, the Assembly approved O'Donnell's bill 89-52. The margin of victory is growing -- the measure passed 85-61 in 2007 -- and, more importantly for supporters, the bill drew support from some contrite lawmakers who previously opposed the bill.
    
O'Donnell began by explaining that his parents, devout Catholics, were denied jobs in Northern Ireland so they emigrated to America.
    
"They came here not because it was the land of opportunity, but because the opportunity was supposed to be equal,'' said O'Donnell, engaged for 28 years to the same man. "The most profoundly and deeply religious people in this room are voting `yes' tonight because they understand there is a separation of what government and the churches and synagogues and mosques are supposed to do.''
    
"I implore you,'' he said, "Please don't deny me something I don't have and want to have desperately.''
    
Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington, a Suffolk County Democrat, called it discrimination against gays -- "the last bastion of hateful oppression.''
    
"I have served in this Assembly for 19 years and I don't have the same rights as all of you,'' said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, a Manhattan Democrat who has been with her partner for more than 13 years. "The people who get married and cheat and get married and are allowed to be married again in the state of New York, they aren't protecting the sanctity of marriage ... but you won't allow me to spend the rest of my life and provide the appropriate legal protection to my partner? I don't accept that.''
    
The debate included apologies from some members who voted against same-sex marriage in 2007, in statements aimed at a half-dozen uncommitted senators weighing politics against personal conviction. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith said he won't bring the measure to a vote unless he's sure it will pass.
    
"I was wrong,'' said Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, a Westchester Democrat. "It's important to be able to change your vote ... I hope other people will think about doing the same thing.''
    
"I apologize to Deborah and to other gay men and women for the pain we have inflicted,'' said Assemblyman Robert Reilly, an Albany County Democrat.
    
Republican Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. of Suffolk County also voted for the bill Wednesday, despite his opposition in 2007.
    
"Friends and colleagues asked me about this bill,'' he said. "And I was seeing the hurt in their eyes for the vote I made two years ago ... my only advice is to ignore the politics in this case.''
    
The issue also revealed a sharp divide by race and religion.
    
"It is about what I believe God wants,'' said Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn, a Jewish leader who voted against the measure. "God doesn't flip-flop on an issue.''
    
Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a black Bronx Democrat, led a pointed defense of religion by objecting to the bill framed as a civil right. He asked O'Donnell: Were gays brought to this country in chains 400 years ago? Were gays held as slaves? Were gays denied the vote?
    
"During the dark periods of our nation, when men and women were lynched,'' Benjamin asked O'Donnell, "were they lynched because they were black or because they were homosexuals?''
    
"To say a gay family is just as good as a heterosexual family is to deny a child a mother or father,'' said Republican Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick of Suffolk County. "It is a very sad day in the state of New York.''
    
"Mike,'' responded Democratic Assemblyman Matthew Titone of Staten Island, "I'm not looking to force the Pope to preside over my big, fat gay wedding ... (but) we are emotionally and physically brutalized and humiliated.''
    
Titone said some of his colleagues with whom he's become friends sometimes say, "`You know, I don't care that you're gay.'
    
"Today,'' Titone said, "right now, as your friend, I need for you to care that I'm gay.''