Dear Commons Community,

The gay marriage vote is nearing a showdown in New York. To recap where we are. New York would be the sixth and the most populous state to legalize same-sex marriage. The measure that would make gay marriage legal, introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo, is currently one vote shy of passage in the state Senate. The state Assembly approved the bill by a wide margin last week, and today (Monday) is the last day of the legislative session before summer recess.

A major opponent of the bill is New York’s Archbishop, Timothy Dolan, who reiterated his and the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage on Sunday, vowing to oppose “any radical bill to redefine the very essence of marriage.” Maureen Dowd commented yesterday in her NY Times column that: “Certainly his effort to kill the gay marriage bill, just one vote away from passing in Albany, shows a lot of gall. The archbishop has been ferocious in fighting against marriage between same-sex couples, painting it as a perversity against nature.”

The most cutting comment from Dowd is: “If only his [Dolan’s] church had been as ferocious in fighting against the true perversity against nature: the unending horror of pedophile priests and the children who trusted them.

Amen!

Tony