Eliot Spitzer,
New York's newly elected Democratic governor, will not
back down on a promise to propose legislation legalizing
same-sex marriage in the state, a top aide to the
governor told The New York Sun on Wednesday.
The
new governor didn't address the issue specifically in
his 61-minute state of the state address on Wednesday,
so the Sun pressed his office for an answer. "The
governor made a commitment to advancing it this year, and he
will do so," Spitzer's communications director, Darren
Dopp, told the Sun.
However,
legalizing marriage for gays is not a "day one" issue,
Dopp added. For now, the administration is chiefly concerned
with pushing forward its ethics and economic agenda
and is keeping the issue of same-sex marriage off the
front burner. "We have to prioritize, and that's how
we prioritized," Dopp said. "That's not to say other
matters are not important."
In his address
Spitzer didn't use the word "gay" but did say New York
should be a "state that understands that the civil
rights movement still has chapters to be written."
(The Advocate)
