New York’s Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will meet with advocates of same-sex marriage on Wednesday in hopes of coming up with a plan to legalize gay unions in the Empire state.
Cuomo will hold a confidential strategy session with leading gay activists on Wednesday to discuss how to legalize gay marriage in New York, the latest sign that he is preparing to put the weight of his administration behind legislation that has divided lawmakers and voters across the country.
Aides to Mr. Cuomo have invited about a dozen of the state’s prominent same-sex marriage advocates to the Capitol for the brainstorming session, according to people told of the meeting, which the governor himself will attend.
Gay marriage advocates say the governor needs to win over at least six members of the Senate — and, most likely, a handful of Republicans, none of whom backed the bill in 2009.
Marriage-equality legislation has passed numerous times in the State Assembly, but has been repeatedly blocked in the State Senate.
But in December 2009, when Democrats still controlled the Senate, the bill failed 38 to 24.
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Cuomo, who campaigned on a pro-marriage-equality platform, said he’ll be “working very hard to pass it.”
A poll released in January revealed that 56 percent of Empire State voters now favor legalizing same-sex unions, up from the previous best of 51 percent in 2009, according to the Quinnipiac University survey.
