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发帖数: 4174 | 1 Posted on Advocate.com June 20, 2011 05:20:00 PM ET
N.Y. Senator Tweets for Marriage Equality Feedback
By Julie Bolcer
New York State senator Greg Ball, an undecided Republican who asked his
Twitter followers how he should vote on the marriage equality bill, said the
feedback appears to be trending toward support of the measure, but he
refuses to budge unless the bill includes stronger religious exemptions.
Ball, an Air Force veteran who advocated against the “don’t ask, don’t
tell” policy, posed the question to his Twitter followers Friday, saying,
“Opening up the discussion! So, if you were me, how would you vote on gay
marriage? Yes or No?”
On Monday, the Putnam County lawmaker said the feedback trended toward
voting yes. A separate conversation continues to unfold on his Facebook page
, in addition to the calls and other messages bombarding senators about the
bill at the end of the legislative session.
“I haven’t looked at it, but it seems to be heading in a direction for
marriage equality,” he said outside the Senate chamber in Albany.
However, Ball added that a large portion of the tweets appeared to come from
people outside the state and the county, suggesting that those replies
would be less persuasive than feedback from his upstate New York
constituents.
The freshman senator, who voted against the marriage equality bill as an
Aassembly member two years ago, wants religious exemptions that exceed what
Gov. Andrew Cuomo included last week in the Marriage Equality Act. In
accordance with the state’s existing laws, the bill, which the assembly
passed last week, recognizes the right of churches to refuse to marry same-
sex couples, and for religious institutions and other fraternal
organizations like the Knights of Columbus to deny use of their private
facilities for wedding celebrations.
Ball said Monday that his support still depended on stricter exemptions, for
example, to protect church-affiliated agencies from regulatory enforcement
actions and to protect individuals and businesses. His proposals would
appear to be in conflict with the state’s human rights laws, and he was not
among the three Republican senators who met with the governor on Monday to
continue to negotiate the exemptions issue.
The exemptions under consideration between the governor’s office and the
Senate Republican majority are said to be narrower in scope than what Ball
has proposed. Cuomo met with senators Kemp Hannon, Andrew Lanza, and Stephen
Saland about the issue, and Majority Leader Dean Skelos said Monday that
the negotiations continue.
Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for the governor, referred to an earlier comment
when asked about the Ball proposals.
“Senator Ball can decide to vote with the conservatives against the, bill
but his characterization and description of the bill is just plain wrong,”
he said last week. “Senator Ball is entitled to his own politics but not
his own facts.”
Currently, 31 senators, including two Republicans, say they would vote yes
for the marriage equality bill, which needs one more vote to pass. The
Republican conference, which would need to supply the decisive vote, but
likely more for political cover, has not decided whether to bring the bill
to the floor for a vote, with some of the delay attributed to the religious
exemptions issue.
Lawmakers appear likely to remain in session beyond Monday, the scheduled
last day on the calendar. Ball shared his assessment that a vote on marriage
equality, if one takes place, would not arrive soon.
"We'll be here all week," he said. |
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