Despite the objections of Democrat Ruben Diaz, Sr. and most of the Republicans in the New York state Senate, a final vote of 33-29 essentially cleared the way for marriage equality on June 24, 2011. Governor Andrew Cuomo fought hard for the bill's passage and, according to AP, quickly signed the bill into law. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow covered the historic moment this way:
''This will become law. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa and Washington, D.C. are currently the jurisdictions in the United States where there is same-sex marriage.... Now, with the addition of New York -- because New York is such a populist state (the third most populist state in the union) -- what just happened will double the number of people in the United States for whom same-sex marriage rights are a reality.''
Read more about the passage of New York's marriage equality law on metroweekly.com in Chris Geidner's A Singular Sensation.
