Same sex marriage recognized
On June 15, 2011, the New York State Assembly approved a same sex marriage bill by a vote of 80-63. On June 24th this bill was passed by the State Senate with a vote of 33-29. That evening Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill, making New York the seventh jurisdiction to recognize marriage equality for homosexual couples. Beginning on July 25, 2011, same sex couples were able to apply for a marriage license and have their wedding recognized under state law.
New York gay marriage began gaining momentum in May 2008, when then-governor David Paterson instructed state agencies to fully recognize the marriage status of same sex couples with out-of-state licenses. During the following year, on April 16, 2009, Governor Paterson announced the introduction of a marriage rights bill to the state Assembly and Senate. This bill was passed twice in 2009 (as well as earlier, in 2007) by the New York Assembly. However, both times it was eventually defeated in the Senate.
Governor Andrew Cuomo continued to call for legislative action, and addressed the subject explicitly in the 2011 State of the State Address. Since that time New Yorkers United for Marriage and Freedom to Marry, two closely related and co-managed advocacy groups in the state, worked with Governor Cuomo to promote marriage equality, eventually leading to the historic June 24th decision.
2011 polling by the Siena Research Institute showed that a solid majority (58%) of New Yorkers support marriage freedom, including 61% of the state’s independent voters and 58% of the upstate population. According to the Williams Institute’s breakdown of the 2010 U.S. Census, 48, 932 same sex couples live in the state, or about 6.7 couples per 1,000 households.
In addition to Freedom to Marry and New Yorkers United for Marriage, state advocacy groups that worked toward equality include Empire State Pride Agenda, Marriage Equality New York, and the New York Log Cabin Republicans.
