N.Y. Extends Civil Rights Protections to Gays

After 31 years of blocking legislation to extend civil rights protections to gays and lesbians, the Republican-controlled state Senate on Tuesday permitted New York to join a dozen other states in outlawing bias on the basis of sexual orientation.

Gov. George Pataki signed the bill Tuesday, just hours after the Senate approved the measure, 34-26, mostly due to Democratic support.

Only a third of the Republicans backed the legislation, with some opposed to its content and others fearing retribution from the Conservative Party, whose chairman had made it clear that anyone who backed the bill might lose the party’s support in the 2004 elections.

Senate GOP leader Joseph Bruno said that he had originally viewed the measure as “counterproductive and unnecessary,” but that he ultimately decided to vote for it “to express tolerance, antidiscrimination and just to recognize that people live their lives the way they see fit.”

The Sexual Orientation Nondiscrimination Act, which has been repeatedly approved by the Democratic-led Assembly, amends the state’s human rights law to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing, employment and public accommodations. Although 21 out of 24 Democrats supported the bill, only 13 of 36 Republicans did so.

After the vote, Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long said that while no single issue would automatically cost a lawmaker his party’s support, “everybody who voted for this bill has put themselves in jeopardy.”

The Senate’s approval was notable not just because of the years of resistance to the measure, but because it was one of the few bills in the Legislature permitted to reach the floor with its outcome not assured.

The Capitol’s halls were crammed with bill opponents passing out biblical literature and holding signs, as well as cross-dressers, people who have had sex changes and others who wanted the bill amended to also protect transgendered people from discrimination.

That amendment, however, failed, 41-19, but advocates still were happy at the original bill’s passage.

“It’s clear that New York is changing,” said Michael Kink, legislative counsel for the nonprofit group Housing Works.