Meet Diane Savino: New York State Senator is breakout celeb with impassioned gay marriage speech
”I am incredibly disappointed. This is a sad day in New York state.”
Diane Savino, New York State Senator for North Shore/Brooklyn, speaking Tuesday after her fellow senators defeated a bill that would have legalized marriage equality for lesbians and gay men. (Staten Island Live)
”Well, as impressive as people may have found my floor comments, they were not persuasive. We knew going into it that this was a long shot. I felt we were counting votes that were probably not there, and unfortunately, that’s what happened…. I never have an issue with people who feel strongly about this from a position of principle. What I do object to is people who voted no for political reasons because they [thought they] couldn’t get reelected in their district — or that the backlash would be too much….There’s no fallback on it right now, so those of us who are supporters, we have to regroup now.”
New York State Senator Diane J. Savino, who testified in favor of this week’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. The heavily Democratic northeast state has been wrestling with this issue for many months, but their Senate has had massive personality conflicts at the same time, and support for marriage equality dried up in New York recently, just as it has in neighboring New Jersey after the defeat of Governor . She and many other senators spoke in favor of the bill, but it failed in the State Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 24 aye, and 38 nay. The YouTube video of Savino’s speech has received nearly 200,000 views in the last couple days on the NYSenate channel, making it their most popular video ever. They’ve added about a dozen more of her videos since then. (New York Magazine)
”A marriage license is a legally binding instrument between two adults who wish to merge their assets and form a family…. Government should not have the power to deny this based on gender. I hope the Senate will reconsider.”
Leticia Remauro, a former Staten Island Republican Chairwoman complaining about her party’s 100% no vote against same-sex marriage equality. One of those was Staten Island Republican Andrew Lanza who says he supports civil unions and considers gay Senator Tom Duane of Manhattan a friend.. Duane says several Republicans said they would vote for the bill but did not when it came time. (Staten Island Live)
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