11 seconds ago 2009-11-27T20:00:02-08:00
NEW YORK (AFP) – New York's state assembly on Tuesday put off a tentatively planned vote on a bill that would allow same-sex marriage, but could revisit the controversial issue next week.
"A vote did not take place. They are negotiating," a spokeswoman for the assembly's upper house, the State Senate, told AFP.
Governor David Paterson had asked Monday for the upper house to vote Tuesday on a bill allowing gay nuptials. He said after the legislature's failure to act that he wanted another attempt to be made next week.
The bill was approved in the state's lower house in May, but faces a tougher battle in the Senate. Commentators said it is currently unlikely to muster the necessary 32 votes.
Paterson said he would call an extraordinary session of the assembly on November 16 and 17 to address the state's yawning budget deficit and also "to act on outstanding legislation, including marriage equality."
The issue is being raised in New York days after voters in Maine voted in a referendum to overturn a gay marriage law passed by their state legislature in May.
Maine was the third state where voters repealed the local government's approval of same-sex marriage rights, following California and Hawaii. Gay marriage has not yet won a popular vote in any US state.
Five states that have moved to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples have done so through court rulings or votes in the state legislature.
Those states are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. New Hampshire will allow gay marriage starting in January.
