Recognizing that “in New York, many individuals who currently seek to exercise the freedom to marry their partners may not do so solely because they are of the same sex,” New York Governor Cuomo sent to the State Assembly his Marriage Equality Act, which includes extremely strong and deep exemptions for religious organizations, and “benevolent organizations.”
The Marriage Equality Act exempts religious organizations, like the Catholic Church, or Jewish synagogues from anti-discrimination laws that would otherwise allow them to be sued for refusing to marry a same-sex couple if the bill becomes law.
So-called benevolent organizations that “provide religious services,” such as the Knights of Columbus — which the Governor mentioned specifically — or, in theory, the Salvation Army, would also be exempt from anti-discrimination lawsuits, for not wishing to rent space or do business with a same-sex couple, based upon religious beliefs.
It is believed that the success of this bill is dependent upon these extremely strong religious exemptions, or, as the right is fond of calling, “protections,” in order to gain enough votes for passage. The Governor has said he would not send up a bill if there were not enough votes to pass it. 32 votes are needed from the 62-seat Senate.
Over the past few days, the media has reported several key Republicans have come out in support of the bill, along with at least three Democrats who in 2009 voted against a same-sex marriage bill under then-Governor David Paterson.
“From the fight for women’s suffrage to the struggle for civil rights, New Yorkers have been on the right side of history. But on the issue of marriage equality, our state has fallen behind,” Governor Cuomo said.
“For too long, same-sex couples have been denied the freedom to marry, as well as hundreds of rights that other New Yorkers take for granted. Marriage Equality is a matter of fairness and legal security for thousands of families in this state – not of religion or culture. When it comes to fighting for what’s right, New Yorkers wrote the book, and Marriage Equality is the next chapter of our civil rights story.”
Governor Cuomo has been advocating for passage of this bill since before taking office, and in his statement acknowledged, “The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the freedom to marry is ‘one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free people’.”
“Further, the state assigns hundreds of protections, benefits and mutual responsibilities in a variety of areas to couples who marry, including health care and hospital visitation rights, child custody issues and financial matters,” the statement read.