New York Assembly Republicans who voted for marriage equality in New York have been rewarded with substantial campaign contributions from gay rights advocates across the United States.
Prior to casting the vote, these Republicans were warned by colleagues that they would never be elected again. Now, most of the money they’ve raised for re-election has come from gay donors outside of their state. Their donations have even surpassed those to Assembly Democrats who voted in support of equal marriage.
“Many of them are a bunch of fossils from a bygone day,” a Republican assemblyman of Dutchess County, Joel Miller, who also backed the bill, said of the Senate Republicans. “Constituents have changed. More of us represent a district in which there’s a lot more people of diverse views.”
Said Mr. Miller: “That’s why these donations come in. They want to send a message that you can be a Republican, you can vote for gay marriage, and you can be re-elected.”
The New York Sun reports:
The show of solidarity comes as the campaign to make New York the third state to legalize gay marriage has hit a roadblock in the Republican-led Senate; the Democrat-led Assembly approved same-sex unions in an 85- 61 vote more than a year ago.
Yesterday, the Republican majority leader of the Senate, Dean Skelos, who represents a district on Long Island, reaffirmed his conference’s opposition, telling The New York Sun that Republicans are “not supportive” of the measure.
A Republican senator of Brooklyn, Martin Golden, said the support received by Assembly Republicans would not influence his conference. “It’s a strong belief among many Republicans that it’s not the way to go. It’s a core belief that we have. We stick with our core beliefs,” he said.
