New York state lawmakers vote against gay marriage

December 2, 2009
By Edith Honan
NEW YORK

(Reuters) - New York state lawmakers voted against legalizing gay marriage on Wednesday, dashing gay rights activists' hopes that it would become the sixth U.S. state to allow same-sex couples to wed.

The New York state senate voted down the legislation 38 votes to 24. Governor David Paterson, a Democrat who supports gay marriage, had said he would have signed the bill into law if it had passed.

"This is an enormous victory," said Maggie Gallagher, the leader of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposed the law. "What you saw was the will of the people .... The culture really hasn't shifted on gay marriage."

Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont have legalized gay marriage, while 40 U.S. states have specific laws that ban gay marriage. Last month, voters in Maine chose to repeal a law that had legalized gay marriage. the rest

The senate has voted against the gay marriage bill, 38-24.