New York State Senate Votes to Keep Marriage Between One Man and One Woman

Teresa Neumann : Dec 4, 2009
Jeremy W. Peters - New York Times

"Advocates for same-sex marriage have attempted to portray their cause as inevitable. However, it has become clear that Americans continue to understand marriage the way it has always been understood, and New York is not different in that regard. This is a victory for the basic building block of our society…"

(Albany, New York)—In New York, the state where the gay-rights movement began, state lawmakers voted against legalizing marriage between homosexuals. The bill was defeated by 24 votes to 38, a larger margin than many expected. (Photo: NYSenate.gov)

In a New York Times report, the state's Roman Catholic bishops were quoted as saying they were pleased by the vote. "While the Catholic Church rejects unjust discrimination against homosexual men and women, there is no question that marriage by its nature is the union of one man and one woman," Richard E. Barnes, the executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, said in a statement. "Advocates for same-sex marriage have attempted to portray their cause as inevitable. However, it has become clear that Americans continue to understand marriage the way it has always been understood, and New York is not different in that regard. This is a victory for the basic building block of our society."

In the same report, state Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx was said to have made an impassioned argument against same-sex marriage, saying, "Not only the evangelicals, not only the Jews, not only the Muslims, not only the Catholics, but also the people oppose it."

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Monsey, N.Y. was said to have reminded the Senate "that the world belongs to the Almighty, and they have to reckon with His rules and His law."