Same-sex marriage (SSM) in New York State

2012-JUN: Senator David Storobin (R)
introduces bill to repeal SSM law

Sponsored link.

The acronym LGBT refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and transsexual communities. SSM refers to same-sex marriage.

This topic continues from a previous essay

2012-JUN-14: State Senator David Storobin introduced repeal bill S7712-2011:

Ten days after taking office, Senator Storobin proposed three bills. One would create a bike path; one would reinburse school districts for certain expenses, and finally a bill to repeal the marriage equality bill passed in mid 2011:

• The title of the repeal bill is: "AN ACT to repeal chapter 95 of the laws of 2011, constituting the Marriage Equality Act, and to repeal chapter 96 of the laws of 2011, amending the domestic relations law relating to the ability to marry.
  
  
• The bill is assigned to the Committee on Rules.
  
  
• The stated purpose of the bill is: To reinstate the definition of marriage in New York as between one man and one woman.
  
  
• The summary of provisions of the bill is:
  
  
  • Section 1 repeals chapter 95 of the laws of 2011, constituting the Marriage Equality [Act] is REPEALED.
    
    
  • Section 2 repeals chapter 96 of the laws of 2011, amending the domestic relations law relating to the ability to marry is REPEALED.
    
    
• The justification for the bill: "The New York State Defense of Marriage Act will acknowledge marriage as being the bedrock of our civil society and defined as being between one man and one woman. The government has thrust upon the people of this state a definition of marriage that violates their religious and personal moral beliefs. This bill intends to reinstate the true definition of marriage by repealing the state's definition of marriage as being between two persons and specifying that it be between one man and one woman. _1,2

During his campaign for office, he had attacked his opposition, Lew Fidler (D) ,because of the latter's support for SSM. His district has a substantial Orthodox Jewish population that is opposed to marriage equality. The race was extremely close and required over two months and a hand recount before Storobin was finally declared the winner. ₃

When interviewed by Eli Chomsky of the Jewish Press, Storobin agreed that courts in New York have ruled that banning gay marriage would be unconstitutional. Storobin expressed confidence that overturning the bill in the state legislature is possible. He said:

"Almost every idea, when first presented, is thrown out and seen as impossible, including my own candidacy."

Storobin said that same-sex marriage began as civil unions, then became marriage, and now it is being taught to schoolchildren. He believes it is time to take a stand. He said:

"Even if the only thing that we do is stop it at gay marriage, that already is a significant achievement."

His comment might be a reflection of the belief expressed by many religious and social conservatives that same-sex marriage is merely the first step that will eventually lead to te legalization of polygamy, incestuous marriage, and even to humans marrying animals. 

There are no co-sponsors for the bill and there is no companion bill in the Assembly. Most articles in the media seem to assume that the bill does not have much of a future. With the strong support for SSM in the Assembly, it is doubtful that this bill will proceed far.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "Storobin bill would repeal same-sex marriage law," Captial Tonigyt, 2012-JUN-14, at: http://www.capitaltonight.com/
2. Text of S7712-2011: Repeals the Marriage Equality Act," New York Senate, 2012-JUN-14, at: http://open.nysenate.gov/
3. "New senator pushes unlikely repeal of gay marriage in New York," Wall Street Journal, 2012-JUN-16, at: http://blogs.wsj.com/
4. Yafit Fishbach, "State Senator Storobin on Gay Marriage and Simcha Felder as an Opponent," The Jewish Press, 2012-JUL-08, at: http://www.jewishpress.com/

Site navigation:

Copyright © 2012 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2012-JUN-16
Latest update: 2012-JUN-16
Author: B.A. Robinson

Sponsored link

Web ReligiousTolerance.org

Page Translator: This page translator works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only After translating, click on the "show original" button at the top of this page to restore page to English.