Gay marriage momentum stalls in liberal NY, NJ - I hate Maggie Gallagher

[WillParkinson]

Gay marriage momentum stalls in liberal NY, NJ
By The Associated Press
11.25.2009 2:30pm EST

(Mount Laurel, NJ) The state-to-state march to legalize gay marriage across the left-leaning Northeast has lost more momentum since a major setback three weeks ago at the ballot box in Maine.

Since then, legislatures in New York and New Jersey have failed to schedule long-expected votes on bills to recognize the unions in those states.

“If they are unable to pass gay marriage in New York and New Jersey, combined with the loss in Maine, it will confirm that gay marriage is not the inevitable wave of the future,” said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which mobilizes social conservatives to fight against same-sex marriage.

Gay rights activists insist that’s not the case and say hope is still alive.

“In any civil rights struggle there are going to be periods of creeping and periods of leaping,” said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry.

http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-marriage-momentum-stalls-in-liberal-ny-nj/

[burning rain]

1. Maggie Gallagher is odious.

So obviously nasty and bitter that every time she opens her mouth, someone is converted to the liberal side out of sheer revulsion.

[Ian David]

2. Maggie Gallagher has gained a lot of weight recently. n/t

[mrbarber]

3. Then Maggie Gallagher put on her black robes and murdered Mace Windu.

[ShadowLiberal]

4. I think it's less momentum, and more who was already in those legislatures

I think Maine is just an excuse here for law makers, and a way for antigay marriage bigots to try to make a temporary victory look like more then it really is.

The fact is in New York's state senate it was already looking like an uphill battle, I think there was even a rumor that supposedly one of the democratic senate leaders who supported gay marriage promised another democrat not to bring a bill to legalize gay marriage to a vote, the unfortunate truth is that we just don't have enough votes in New York, and just one antigay marriage democrat can put the breaks on it real quick by switching parties, and causing a 31/31 vote tie to stop gay marriage from coming the floor. We need more gay marriage supporters in the New York state senate to pass the bill.

In New Jersey the legislature could have voted to legalize gay marriage when the courts ordered them to give equal benefits to same sex couples as married straight couples. They didn't do it then because they didn't have the votes. Unfortunately I think these stories about gay marriage stalling mean that they realize they still don't have the votes they need.

New Jersey isn't quite as gay friendly as you might think, I live next to the state, and once saw a news story about an elementary school showing kids a video teaching them about diversity of families. It started out with 2 parent man/woman white couples and their kids, then other families just like them, only different races. Then it did other stuff like single parent households, and adoptive families, and interracial families. And then it ended with same sex couple families raising elementary school kids just like them. A bunch of antigay parents didn't like that so they called the local news media. The local news media ran a negative story about the school and the video.

[TexasObserver]

5. Recommend. Surely New York can get it done.

I am really disappointed in the progressive, Democratically controlled states that don't try to help gay marriage become a reality.