For the first time in US history, a Republican controlled legislature has passed the legalization of same sex marriage in the state of New York. After a religious amendment passed, two Senators announced their vote would be yes, which put the number of Senators voting yes over the required 32. The final vote was 33-29.
Mark Grisanti, who’s been previously opposed to legal same sex marriage, made a speech just prior to the vote about how his vote was now, after doing the research on the issue, a definite yes. He said he just can’t come up with a reason to deny other equal rights, while citing the religious exemption amendment as something that helped him change his mind on the issue.
New York becomes the sixth state, after Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, Massachusetts and New Hampshire (plus Washington DC) in the US to legalize same sex marriage. Hopefully California will become the seventh.