Gay Marriage Bill Will Not Get Voted On Until September

After hoping and pledging that his same-sex marriage bill would come before state senators before their (official) summer vacation began, now Governor Paterson is backing off and saying that he will delay pushing the bill forward until the Senate returns in September. As the senators prepare to finish up their session Wednesday and Thursday, the new Majority Leader Pedro Espada said, “There was a general consensus that we wouldn’t take on extremely controversial bills in the next week.” A spokesman for Paterson said he would probably call a special legislative session in early September. The governor did some courting on the gay marriage issue while the Senate worked out their issues, even having the bill backed by former Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. But strong gay marriage opponent Democrat (and Pentecostal minister) Senator Ruben Diaz said, “We just got unity. Don’t start to un-unify us. Let us have some kind of honeymoon.” A honeymoon with 80% dudes.