Senate rejects marriage bill

“I think in this day and age we're not asking for special laws,” said Malverne resident Robert Powers. “We're asking for equal laws.”

Powers, who married his husband, Howard Costa, in a Connecticut ceremony last year, said he is disappointed with the New York state Senate, which rejected a bill on Dec. 2 that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry. The bill had been approved by the state Assembly three times, including the same day it headed to the Senate, but was rejected 38-24 as several Democrats joined Republicans to vote against it.

“We had some hope that we had opened the minds of some of the legislators, who seemed like men of reason,” said Island Park resident Dorothy Jacobs, who married her wife, Carol Keating, in Canada five years ago.

Jacobs said she was disappointed in Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) whom she met with personally to try to persuade him to support the bill. Skelos was one of the eight Long Island senators that rejected it.

“He's made it clear all along that he was personally opposed,” said Scott Reif, a spokesman for Skelos. “But he had said that members were free to vote their conscience on the issue, and that's what happened.”

Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) and Brian Foley (D-Blue Point) voted for the bill. It was reported that Foley made his decision after hearing the personal statements made by individuals who supported the measure prior to the vote.

“I picked up the phone today and called Johnson and Foley,” Jacobs said. “I thought it was a courageous thing for [Foley] to do.”

Rockville Centre resident Jeff Friedman was one of the supporters who spoke before the Senate. Holding a sign with photos of his husband, Andrew Zwerin, and their adopted son, Josh, Friedman pleaded with the Senate to recognize his family.

“My disappointment came from the dysfunction with the New York state Senate,” said Friedman, who married Zwerin, his high school sweetheart, last year in California. “This vote and setback was political, and not about our families.”

Even though same-sex marriages cannot be performed in New York, those that are performed in one of the five states that allow it -- Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont -- have been recognized by state agencies since Gov. David Paterson signed an executive order in May 2008. (California and Maine allowed same-sex marriages until votes in November 2008 and 2009, respectively, repealed those laws.)

Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre spoke publicly against the bill this summer, when it was originally scheduled to be voted on. Calls to the diocese seeking comment after the vote were not returned.

“Marriage entitles people to so many things,” said Powers, adding that if it were not for his health insurance carrier recognizing domestic partnerships, Costa, who is out of work, would have no coverage.

Like many same-sex couples, Keating and Jacobs have a stack of paperwork that includes health care proxies, living wills and other forms to ensure that each is taken care of in case of an emergency involving the other.

Friedman and Zwerin found that despite similar documents, they still had problems when their son needed to be hospitalized. “They never finalized his admittance into the hospital because they were looking for Josh's mother,” said Friedman, who was forced to produce a birth certificate. “When your child is having trouble breathing, there’s no need to show proof who my family is.”

Powers said he still believes that New York will eventually legalize same-sex marriage. “We're just one of the states it's going to take a little longer to follow through on the law and create a new law,” he said. “One by one, there are more states that are doing it.”

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