NY State Attorney General-Governor Hopeful Elliot Spitzer Vows to Push for Gay Marriage

[BroadwayBulldog]

Posted: 10/7/06 at 10:42pm

As excerpted from today's New York Times

Spitzer Vows to Push for Gay Marriage


By DANNY HAKIM
Published: October 7, 2006

By saying on Thursday night that he will push to legalize gay marriage, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer put himself at the vanguard of the effort to recognize such unions, staking out a position that most prominent Democrats, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, have shied away from.


Eliot Spitzer’s promise to push for legalization of gay marriage was more than some in the audience expected.
Mr. Spitzer, who is running for governor and holds a commanding lead in the polls, made his strongest declaration yet in support of gay marriage in his remarks to the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s leading gay lobbying group. He told the audience, “We will make it law in New York.”

If elected, Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, would be the most prominent state official in the nation to call for the legalization of gay marriage, though Democratic candidates for governor in California and Massachusetts have also expressed support. Many prominent Democrats, including Senator Clinton, have supported gays on other issues but not on this one, which has led to friction in their relations with gay leaders. Among the few prominent politicians who support it are Senators Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats; and Lincoln Chafee, a Rhode Island Republican.

The nationwide effort to legalize gay marriage has sputtered since a Massachusetts court legalized such unions in that state in 2004. In July this year, the New York State Court of Appeals said the issue should be decided by the State Legislature, giving the issue new immediacy in the state.

Mr. Spitzer’s position could be a perilous one for a politician considered presidential material, and he has acknowledged that if elected governor, he would first push other legislative priorities including cutting property taxes and overhauling Medicaid . But last night he said he would not let outside pressures influence his stance.

“We will not ask whether this proposition of legalizing same-sex marriage is popular or unpopular; we will not ask if it’s hard or easy; we will simply ask if it’s right or wrong,” he told a crowd of nearly 1,200 gathered at a Midtown hotel ballroom. “I think we know in this room what the answer to that question is.”

Even with a governor’s support, there is the not insubstantial matter of the State Legislature. Gay marriage bills have not advanced beyond committees in the Assembly, where Democrats have an overwhelming majority, and would face a difficult path in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Mr. Spitzer’s Republican opponent, John Faso, does not support gay marriage..."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 4:48am

Even it Italy I can see that Plum already started a thread on this.

Reply at the link below:
Spitzer Vows to Support Gay Marriage

[Liverpool]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 5:04am

when do you come back PJ?

[BroadwayBulldog]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 8:47am

Too soon.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 7:33pm

Am I the only one who finds Elliot Spitzer to be extrmely sexy?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 10:18pm

Dolly, I would hazard a guess & say you are a majority of one in the Spitzer adoration society ( sexy looking wise )

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 10:41pm

I didn't say he was handsome. I said he was "sexy". There's a difference, but you wouldn't know that because you're neither.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/8/06 at 11:03pm

Coming from you, that is rich

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:11am

After a comment like that I guess I can rip up your wedding invitation.

~Mrs. David Wright
Shea Stadium, New York

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:16am

Mr Roxy is getting married?
Why weren't Ivan and I invited?

Back on topic, I think if one state can keep its gay marriage rights, I think they all can.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/9/06 at 8:19am

Roxy's been married for about 6 years. His wife is lovely, but unrequited.

~Mrs David Wright
Shea Stadium, New York

Updated On: 10/9/06 at 08:19 AM