New York Senate Rejects Same Sex Marriage

The New York Assembly keeps passing it, and the Senate keeps rejecting it. The vote was expected to be close but in the end eight Democrats, including two members of the leadership, joined the Republicans who unanimously voted against it. The final tally was 38-24. Governor Patterson took the unusual step of speaking on the Senate floor after the vote urging the legislature to keep trying. Meanwhile a new poll from Marist college echoed one done earlier by Qunnipiac University, finding that same sex marriage is favored by a 51-41 spread among New York residents.