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Loading ...Poll: Support strong for gay marriage in New York State
04.08.2009 3:57pm EDT
(New York City) A new poll shows that nearly three-quarters of voters in New York State support recognition of same-sex couples, but are divided on whether that should be marriage or civil unions.
The Quinnipiac University found that 41 percent support gay marriage, while 33 percent favored civil unions. Only 19 percent said same-sex couples should have no legal recognition in the state.Support for both marriage and civil unions was highest among Democrats.
On a state-wide basis Democrats supported marriage 49 percent, as opposed to 31 percent for Republicans. Independents supported gay marriage by 41 percent.
On the question of civil unions it was closer – 29 percent for Democrats and 35 percent for Republicans. Independents accounted for 40 percent.
In the more conservative upstate 35 percent of voters supported marriage while 31 percent supported civil unions.
The poll of 1,528 registered voters was taken this month.
The poll numbers were almost identical to a Quinnipiac poll a year ago, but significantly higher than in 2007 when the state was evenly split between marriage and civil unions with each receiving 35 percent support.
Openly gay New York Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell (D) said its time to enact a marriage equality bill.
“We can get married in Iowa, we can get married in Vermont, we can get married in Massachusetts, we can get married in Connecticut. I think it’s time I should get married in New York,” O’Donnell said.
In 2006, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry. It said that the issue, however, could be taken up by the legislature.
Legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry in New York State passed the Assembly in 2007 but the then-GOP controlled Senate refused to take up the bill.
Democrats now control the Senate, but State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith (D) has said he does not have the votes to pass marriage equality legislation.
In a statement Wednesday Smith said he remains committed to marriage equality.
“Senator Smith has consistently affirmed his support for marriage equality and will continue to support it,” Smith said through his spokesperson. “However, at the present time he does not believe there are sufficient votes in the Senate to pass the marriage equality bill, which was passed by the Assembly last year. The Majority Leader has said in the past that it will pass as soon as the votes can be secured and he is committed to continuing that process now.”
Gov. David Paterson (D) has said if a marriage equality bill came to his desk he would sign it.
Last May, Paterson issued an executive order recognizing the marriages of all New York same-sex couples who were married in areas where they are legal.
I emailed Maj. Leader Smith and got no response. I asked him flat out who was not supporting Gay Marriage in NY state.
I believe he is the one dragging his feet.
I want’t EQUAL FEDERAL RIGHTS. No more, no less. So it will still be up to President Obama to take action. If he doesn’t, there will be a Million Queer March in DC in the Fall. The time is NOW!!!!!
Well, for all those who want ‘Civil Unions’ remember, that the police, hospitals, insurance companies, adoption agencies, employers will deny equal benefits no matter what the laws say.
Only MARRIAGE is Equal and will get Equal Rights under the law.
I have a friend here who had CU/DP for 5 years, Will, Powers of Attorney for Health and General. and the Coroner said he did not ‘believe’ in those laws, when his partner died, and tried to take all the partners belongings, when he was still warm in their bed!!!! NOT THE SAME!!!
I believe the wait for gay marriage to be legalized anywhere is over due…. I would love to see it be legalized in New York not because I am gay but because my twin sister is and I would like to be by her side when her and her girlfriend get married and it would also be nice for it to be in our own state. I 100% agree with Same Sex Marriage
I don’t under stand the question of should it be a civil union or a marriage? As a black American, why don’t you ask me to ride on the back of the bus? After all, I am on the bus and getting a ride!
Marriage isn’t sanctioned by God, Holy Matrimony is. Get over it and let everyone have equal rights.
I’m with Johannes. Yeah, I understand the idea of waiting ’til the time is right, but when is “right”? Who gets to make that decision–maybe somebody who isn’t affected by the decision? That’s the same incrementalist argument that was used for civil rights. Eventually it came down to the Black Panthers and Malcolm X looking a lot worse than some nice respectable folk from the NAACP or the Urban League. So we have incrementalist gays, angry gays and I-just-might-burn-down-your-house-’cause-it’s-Monday gays. It helped a majority-white US (especially elected officials) take civil rights a little more seriously, so why not?
Why post the Upstate results and not Downstate? Downstate–Greater NYC–is 13 million out of 20 million state residents, or two-thirds of the state. Draw an arc from Port Jervis to Kingston to the CT line–everything south of that is part of New York’s metro area. What were the results in Mid-Hudson and Lower Hudson Valley? The City? Long Island?
“at the present time [Malcolm Smith] does not believe there are sufficient votes in the Senate to pass the marriage equality bill”
Well, hey – why don’t we try and see? Let’s have a vote and get the senators on the record. Maybe, once they have to take a stance, we can sway some undecideds – it worked in Vermont! And if it doesn’t work, we’ll know who we need to lobby and/or defeat in the next election / primary. And if we don’t get all the Democrats’ votes, maybe there are enough Republicans who will vote for the bill, because they have a gay child or parent or simply believe in equality. We won’t know until we try is better than we won’t try until we know. Get on with it already, you wimps.
Blah Blah Blah. So all of the mighty politicians believe in gay marriage. But then why don’t we have it? We don’t have even as much as a domestic partner registry. If they truly believe that gay marriage is the right thing they should stop yapping and get moving. Do the right thing guys and gals.
I wouldn’t hold my breath for same-sex marriage in NY. The Democrats now hold majorities in both the assembly and the senate. Yet there are a handful of conservative Democrats in the senate who are staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage. These conservative Democrats actually threatened to support the Republican party in the Senate if any same-sex marriage bill was introduced. Had these Democrats crossed the aisle the Republicans would have maintained control of the senate.
This is why Malcolm Smith says there is not enough votes because the Democratic majority in the senate is waffer thin. The gay-friendly Gov. David Patterson is also hugely unpopular at the moment with approval ratings in the teens. Neighboring state New Jersey seems more likely to get marriage equality before New York.
As nice as it is to see increasing public support for marriage equality, the fact of the matter is that this issue should not be decided by a “majority rules” attitude. Our government has the duty to ensure equality and freedom for ALL its citizens. After all, most people still favored anti-miscegenation laws when they were deemed unconstitutional by the courts.
If the legislature is supposed to follow the will of the people like robots, as all of the religious conservatives have shouted every time the issue of marriage equality has come before a legislature (especially in states where there was a great deal of opposition to extending rights to same-sex couples), why is it that the New York legislature is dragging it’s feet when the people of the state are in favor of marriage? Just a thought for the religious conservatives (who never really play politics fair anyway) to ponder.
Majority Leader Smith, according to this article, appears less than fully-supportive: nowhere does his spokesman suggest that Smith is actively lobbying and otherwise persuading the conservatives of his own party to support same-sex marriage. Mr. Smith, if you are truly a champion of same-sex marriage, why are you standing on the sidelines waiting for others of your party to change their stance?