we are watching the state senate? albany, new york, right now as we are told that a vote is impending on same-sex marriage rights. this is a live shot on the chamber. a vote expected shortly on same-sex marriage rights. we will get to that if and when they move on to that business, they have been doing other business this evening. in the meantime, this man is harlan crowe, a dallas real estate zillionaire who has given supreme court justice clarence thomas a lot of expensive gifts or otherwise spent large amounts of money. he s given the justice the gift of a bible that once belonged to frederick douglass. it was valued at $19,000. he reportedly donated the millions of dollars needed to turn this seafood cannery where justice thomas s mother once
we are watching the vote in new york state on same-sex marriage rights. 31 senators were declared in favor. that may be the winning margin. 15-48. those in the negative are ball, bonisef, flanagan, martins. ayes 36, nays 26.
at least two republican senators say they are definite yeses. that information alone would leave the marriage bill one vote shy of passing if everything else went on party line. but a handful of republicans have held out as undecided for a long time now. one of those longtime republican undecideds, a senator named andrew lanza. he announced tonight that he will be voting no. but the ultimate outcome here is as much of a mystery now as is the exact timing of the vote tonight. the last time same-sex marriage rights came to a vote in new york state was two years ago. at that point the senate was controlled by democrats. that measure was defeated when it came up two years ago. not a single republican voted for it. eight democrats voted against it. this time the vote looks to certainly be closer and possibly even to go the other way. this weekend in new york city, just so you know, is gay pride weekend. new york city s gay pride parade is this weekend. so there are even more gay people in n
many people expecting supporters of gay rights to make their feelings on this vote tonight known in the streets of new york. whether the vote goes up or whether the vote goes down. if the bill does pass tonight, new york will become the sixth state in the country as well as the largest state by far where same-sex couples could be legally wed. and no, there is no residency requirement for getting married in new york state. so that means that if this passes tonight, and again, we are watching the state senate live right now, if this passes tonight, it would mean niagara falls weddings for a whole new group of people who could never have had one before. again, unlike massachusetts, no residency requirement for getting a new york state marriage license. those weddings could start 30 days after governor andrew cuomo would sign this bill into law. again, that is if it passes, which is no sure thing. all eyes on albany as the state senate looks to be keeping us late tonight. potentially we wi