New York moves to become 6th state to legalize gay marriage

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http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/24/new.york.gay.marriage/index.html

New York legislators cleared the last major hurdle to legalize same-sex marriage on Friday with a 33-to-29 vote, sending the bill to the governor's desk for his expected approval.

A vote on the measure, which the state Assembly passed June 15, has been stalled in the Senate. But it turned a corner Friday, according to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, after lawmakers agreed on an amendment to protect religious groups from litigation that had been pushed by Republicans.

Earlier in the day, the Assembly passed a new version of the bill that included the amendment about religious institutions. The Friday night vote in the Senate means that the legislation's fate is now in the hands of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who proposed it in the first place.

Cuomo, a Democrat, says it would grant same-sex couples equal rights to marry "as well as hundreds of rights, benefits and protections that are currently limited to married couples of the opposite sex."


(VERY proud to be a NY'er tonight!)

Josh Marshall has been down on Christopher Street in Manhattan
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/06/the_scene_near_stonewall_inn.php?ref=fpblg