NY Gov. Cuomo: No Vote on Marriage Equality Unless Votes are There

A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage won’t be introduced in the Senate unless the votes to pass it are available, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today.

Speaking at a news conference, the governor said votes were still being counted in the Republican-led chamber. Cuomo said the goal was to avoid a repeat of 2009, when a same-sex marriage bill was up for a vote in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate, but failed 38-24.

Cuomo, responding to a question about whether Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell jumped the gun on introducing his own measure and not wait for the program bill from the governor, said the focus remained on the Senate.

“This has never been about, on marriage equality, a vote in the Assembly primarily. The Assembly has passed it before. People expect it will pass again. The question is what’s going to happen in the Senate. The discussions that I’ve had with the collective group that is working on this in a unified way is we want to pass a bill. We don’t want to bring a bill up in the Senate that will fail, right? We don’t want to have an instant replay of last year. It’s not about having a vote for a sake of a vote. It’s about if it’s going to pass. and the conversations we’re having now will educate as to whether we’ll bring the bill to a vote.”

A coalition of advocacy groups was formed at Cuomo’s urging earlier this year with the goal of passing the bill this year. Cuomo himself has said same-sex marriage should be legalized by the end of this legislative session in June.

The pro-same-sex marriage group, New Yorkers United for Marriage, are lobbying Democratic and Republican lawmakers considered to be on the fence in the debate.