经济学人下载:同性恋婚姻,科莫的骄傲

Gay marriage
同性恋婚姻

Cuomo's pride
科莫的骄傲

The Empire State lets them say: “I do”
纽约州让他们可以说：“我愿意。”

THE Stonewall Inn, in New York’s West Village, is famous in gay history as the scene of riots against the police in 1969. On June 26th Roy O’Neill and Michael Gigl stood just across the street from it to watch the city’s Pride march. The couple’s daughter Kiera sat on Mr Gigl’s shoulders for a better view. This year’s march was even more joyous than usual. Some 36 hours earlier, New York had become the sixth and most-populous state to legalise same-sex marriage when the governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed the bill into law. It will go into effect on July 24th. After watching the vote on their sofa, Mr O’Neill and Mr Gigl proposed to each other.

在同性恋历史上，位于纽约西村的石墙旅店很有名，因为它见证了1969年同性恋者对抗警察的暴乱。6月26日，Roy O’Neill和Michael Gigl站在旅店对面的街道上，观看了纽约的“骄傲游行”。这对情侣的女儿Kiera坐在Gigl的肩膀上，以便看得更清楚。今年的游行比往常更充满欢乐。大约36小时以前，州长Andrew Cuomo签署了一项法案使之成为法律，使纽约成为了第六个同性婚姻合法化的州，也是人口最多的一个。法律将在7月24日生效。坐在沙发上观看了投票之后，Mr O’Neill和 Mr Gigl向对方求婚了。

Mr Cuomo cajoled, pressured and tirelessly negotiated to drive the bill through the state Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. In 2009, the last time the issue went to Albany, it was rejected soundly. Not a single Republican supported it and eight Democrats voted no. This time four Republicans joined 29 Democrats to push it through. One, Mark Grisanti of Buffalo, opposed gay marriage for religious reasons, but could not justify denying to gay couples the 1,324 rights and legal protections the state offers married couples. “Who am I”, he asked, “to say that someone does not have the same rights that I have with my wife?”

Cuomo威逼利诱，不屈不挠地协商，促使由共和党人控制的州参议院通过了这项法案。在2009年，这项议案最后一次提交到奥尔巴尼（纽约州首府），但被彻底否决。没有一位共和党人支持，有八名民主党人反对。这一次，4名共和党参议员和29名民主党参议员共同支持通过这样法案。其中一名来自布法罗的参议员Mark Grisanti 因为宗教原因反对同性婚姻，但他无法为剥夺同性恋夫妇该州赋予已婚夫妇的1324项权力和法律保护辩护。他说：“我有什么资格说我和我妻子享受的权力有人享受不了呢？”