The Semantics of Marriage Equality

An editor for The American Heritage Dictionary reflects on the redefinition of marriage — shortly before the death of his own husband.

So often in the struggle for civil rights, gays and lesbians face criticisms from social conservatives regarding tradition. When asserting that marriage has always been solely a union between one man and one woman, our adversaries trot out old dictionary definitions to support their claims. But just because some dictionaries in the past defined marriage in this way does not mean that the word is used in the same way today. The job of dictionaries is primarily to describe how language is used, not to dictate how it should be used.

I'm the supervising editor for The American Heritage Dictionary and a lexicographer. In January the other dictionary editors and I revised several definitions relating to the word marriage to reflect the changes in legal status that have occurred over the past few years. For example, the definition of widower formerly read "A man whose wife has died and who has not remarried." I revised this definition to "A man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried."

Just two months later my own husband died unexpectedly and accidentally. We had been together almost 15 years. Because we were residents of Massachusetts, we had been able to marry in the fall of 2004. Suddenly I found myself to be a widower, and when our 2009 printing came off the presses in the spring, it included the updated definition of widower — a word that now applied to me. In the shattered aftermath of profound loss, an obsolete or incomplete definition of widower would seem an insignificant detail, but all such trivial details viewed together coalesce into a constant reminder of a two-tiered, unequal system. Therefore, having had the ability to revise the definitions that appear in a major American dictionary took on an important resonance for me.

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DOMA Included in GOP "Purity Test"

A so-called purity test of conservative principles being circulated for consideration among Republican National Committee members includes a commitment to retain the Defense of Marriage Act.

The proposed test, reported by MSNBC’s First Read, outlines 10 conservatives principles, such as opposition to “Obama-style government run healthcare” and federal funding for abortion, a rejection of cap-and-trade legislation, and the retention of DOMA. Candidates would have to abide by at least eight of the 10, or face the withdrawal of endorsements and financial support by the RNC.

According to First Read, it remains unclear whether the document, called the “Resolution on Reagan’s Unity Principle for Support of Candidates,” will be formally introduced at the RNC’s winter meeting in Hawaii in January. The stringent proposal arrives shortly after internal GOP rifts were exposed by a congressional race in New York’s upstate 23rd district, where grassroots conservatives ousted a socially moderate Republican from the contest, but a Democrat ultimately won.

RNC committee member Jim Bopp Jr., the author of the resolution and general counsel to National Right to Life, told First Read that the purpose of the resolution was to reclaim “conservative bona fides."

Bopp Jr. added that the resolution aims to demonstrate that the party is open to diverse views — “but you have to agree with us most of the time,” he said.



GOP Leaders Circulate 'Purity Resolution' with DOMA Support

Adam Nagourney reports on a resolution being passed around by top RNC members meant to solidify conservative tenets of the party:

"According to the resolution, any Republican candidate who broke with the party on three or more of these issues– in votes cast, public statements made or answering a questionnaire – would be penalized by being denied party funds or the party endorsement. The proposed resolution was signed by 10 Republican national committee members and was distributed on Monday morning. They are asking for the resolution to be debated when Republicans gather for their winter meeting."

Here is the resolution’s list:
(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;
(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run health care;
(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;
(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;
(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;
(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and
(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.

Antigay Hate Crimes Increased in 2008

Statistics released Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that hate crimes based on sexual orientation in the United States increased by 11% in 2008 over the previous year.

The annual FBI data revealed that a total of 7,783 incidents involving 9,691 victims of hate crimes were reported last year, with hate crimes based on sexual orientation showing the largest increase. It was the third year in a row that hate crimes based on sexual orientation rose.

According to the blog Think Progress, the 1,706 victims in the sexual orientation category break down as follows: 57.5% were victims of an offender’s anti-male-homosexual bias; 27.3% were victims because of an antihomosexual bias; 11.6% were victims because of an anti-female-homosexual bias; 2% were victims because of an antiheterosexual bias; and 1.6% were victims because of an antibisexual bias.

Last month President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law. The legislation, among its other powers, will enable the FBI to begin collecting data on hate crimes motivated by gender and gender identity.

Kirchick: No More Subsidized Homophobia

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, created under George W. Bush in 2003, has distributed more than $50 billion for AIDS treatment and prevention funding worldwide, largely to Africa. But James Kirchick argues much of that funding goes to countries that promote homophobia, particularly Uganda, which goes to great lengths to punish gays and lesbians.

Kirchick writes in the Los Angeles Times, “Uganda’s campaign against homosexuality took a disturbing turn last month when a member of parliament in the nation’s governing majority introduced legislation that would stiffen penalties for actual or perceived homosexual activity, which is already illegal under Ugandan law. According to the proposed law, ‘repeat offenders’ could be sentenced to death, as would anyone engaging in a same-sex relationship in which one of the members is under the age of 18 or HIV-positive. Gay-rights advocacy would be illegal, and citizens would be compelled to report suspected homosexuals or those ‘promoting’ homosexuality to police; if they failed to do so within 24 hours, they could also be punished.”

Struggling Anglican leader in Rome for papal talks

The Archbishop of Canterbury sought Thursday to downplay the implications of the Vatican’s unprecedented invitation for Anglicans to join the Catholic Church as he arrived in Rome for his first talks with the pope on the new policy.

Archbishop Rowan Williams’ three-day visit, which began Thursday with a lecture and ends Saturday with a papal audience, was scheduled before the Vatican announced it was making it easier for traditional Anglicans upset over the ordination of women and gay bishops to become Catholic.

The Vatican has said it was merely responding to the many Anglican requests to join the Catholic Church and has denied it was poaching for converts in the Anglican pond.

But the move has already strained Catholic-Anglican relations and is sure to affect Williams’ 77-million worldwide Anglican Communion, which was already on the verge of schism over homosexuality and women’s ordination issues before the Vatican intervened.

In a speech at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Williams was gracious in referring to the Vatican’s new policy, which he called the “elephant in the room.” The policy was an “imaginative pastoral response” to requests by some Anglicans but broke no new doctrinal ground, Williams said.

He spent the bulk of his speech describing the progress that had been achieved so far in decades of Vatican-Anglican ecumenical talks and questioning whether the outstanding issues were really all that great.

“The ecumenical glass is genuinely half full,” the archbishop said.


In Related News: 4,000 Anglican priests to join Catholics

OVER 4,000 Anglican priests all over the world, including married ones, are expected to join the Catholic Church, Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya announced on Friday.

Ssekamanya, who doubles as the chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University, said this does not mean that the Catholic Church is removing the requirement for priests to remain unmarried.

“We are not becoming soft on celibacy for Catholic priests. We shall also not tolerate homosexuals and polygamous marriages in the Catholic Church,” he added.

He was officiating at the 15th graduation ceremony of the Nkozi-based university.

Vatican officials announced that married Anglican priests would be allowed to remain in the priesthood on a case-by-case basis as they join the Roman Catholic fold.

The Vatican’s decision to allow Anglicans to keep some aspects of their liturgy had raised questions over whether the Catholic requirement for celibacy might change.

The Vatican this month released rules and guidelines, known as the Apostolic Constitution, as part of efforts to make it easier for disillusioned, traditionalist Anglicans to cross over to the Roman Catholic Church.

Under the Vatican’s initiative, Anglicans, turned off by their own church’s embrace of gay clerics, women priests and blessing of same-sex unions, can join new parishes, called ‘personal ordinariates’, that are headed by former Anglican prelates.

“There is no change in the Church’s discipline of clerical celibacy,” Bishop Ssekamanya re-affirmed. He praised celibacy as “a sign and a stimulus for pastoral charity”.

The ceremony had 236 students graduating with masters, 522 with bachelors, 13 with advanced diplomas, 212 with diplomas and 10 with certificates.

N.J. Church Pushes for Marriage Equality

The Star-Ledger profiles Kevin Taylor, pastor of Unity Fellowship Church, a predominantly African-American and gay congregation in New Brunswick, N.J., that is leading the drive for marriage equality.

Taylor, who is also a producer for Black Entertainment Television, seeks to turn his eight-year-old church, one of 12 in a nationwide movement, into a political force for marriage equality in the Garden State, according to the Newark-based Star-Ledger.

“The political mission of Taylor’s parish has become the legalization of same-sex marriage in New Jersey,” Star-Ledger reporter Mary Fuchs writes. “For its members, the church is a place of both worship and possibilities — if rows of metal chairs lining a plain room in a medical building can become a sanctuary, why can’t prayers become reality?”

Unity Fellowship helped to raise $20,000 for marriage equality in a telephone fund-raiser this fall, according to the newspaper.

Supporters and opponents of gay marriage are in Trenton today pressing their cases with state legislators, who returned for the lame-duck session.

Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, has pledged to sign a marriage equality bill if lawmakers pa

Adam Lambert For Your Entertainment at the American Music Awards 2009

N.Y. Court Upholds Marriage Recognition

The New York state court of appeals on Thursday upheld the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions where they are legal, although the narrow ruling applies only to the specific cases under consideration and leaves open the door to future challenges.

The cases, involving the extension of benefits to same-sex partners of government employees who wed out of state, arose in response to the executive order from Gov. David Paterson last year to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other places, which include Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa and Canada.

According to The New York Times, the ruling does not decide the broader issue surrounding recognition of same-sex marriages performed outside New York.

“In their majority ruling, four of the seven members of the court said they were making their decision on narrow grounds involving the specifics of each case, and not settling the broader question of whether same-sex marriages performed in other states should be recognized,” reportedthe Times. “Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr., writing for the majority, expressed ‘hope that the Legislature will address this controversy.’

But in a concurring decision, three of the justices said that the court should have addressed the wider issue because New York law already allows for the recognition of marriages that are considered legal elsewhere.”

Trans Protections Approved in Tampa

The Tampa city council voted Thursday to extend antidiscrimination protections to transgender individuals over the objections of opponents, many of whom based their criticisms on religion.

Catholic bishops say gay marriage hurts society

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have affirmed that the church defines marriage between one man and one woman, and sex is meant for procreation.

The pastoral letter was issued Tuesday in Baltimore by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The bishops say they are disturbed that a growing number of people view marriage as a private or individual matter, instead of an issue critical to building a healthy society.

They say in the pastoral letter that redefining marriage to allow same-sex unions would damage the common good and would ignore the proper role of husbands and wives.

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages

Texans: Are you really married?

Maybe not.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

She calls it a "massive mistake" and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

"You do not have to have a fancy law degree to read this and understand what it plainly says," said Radnofsky, who will be at Texas Christian University today as part of a five-city tour to kick off her campaign.

'Entirely constitutional’
Abbott spokesman Jerry Strickland said the attorney general stands behind the 4-year-old amendment.

"The Texas Constitution and the marriage statute are entirely constitutional," Strickland said without commenting further on Radnofsky’s statements. "We will continue to defend both in court."

Christian leaders issue ‘call of conscience’

More than 150 Christian leaders, most of them conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Roman Catholics, issued a joint declaration Friday reaffirming their opposition to abortion and gay marriage and pledging to protect religious freedoms.

The 4,700-word document, called “The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience,” sounds familiar themes from political and social debates over the health care overhaul and gay marriage battles.

While acknowledging that “Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage,” the group rejects same-sex marriage. The declaration states that opening a legal door for gay marriage would do the same for “polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships.”

President Barack Obama’s desire to reduce the need for abortion is “a commendable goal,” but his proposals are likely to increase the number of elective abortions, the document contends.

“The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense,” it says.

Obama has said he wants to strike a balance on abortion coverage in the health care overhaul.

The declaration also cites threats to health care workers’ conscience clauses and anti-discrimination statutes it argues impinge on religious freedoms.

Signatories include 15 Roman Catholic bishops, including New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl; Focus on the Family founder James Dobson; National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson; seminary leaders, professors and pastors

Catholic ’Ex-Gay’ Program Criticized

Some anti-gay religious groups claim that gays can be "cured" and turned straight; others acknowledge that homosexuality is an innate trait, rather than a pathology, but still insist that gays are "called by God" to forsake family life and sexual intimacy and live celibate lives.

The Catholic Church follows the latter course, and in keeping with its views on the matter of gay sexuality has begun to offer a 12-step program designed to lead gays into sexless existences, reports a Nov. 17 Minneapolis Star Tribune article.

The program, however, refers to "reparative therapy," which is commonly associated with religiously based programs that purport to "convert" gays into heterosexuals. Such programs have vocal adherents who claim once to have been gay but now to be straight; health professionals, however, are skeptical of such "conversion" programs and warn that they may do more harm than good. The Star Tribune noted that the church’s programs are viewed as emblematic of a rightward shift on social issues since the start of Benedict XVI’s papacy. That shift has marginalized faith groups that previously had the support of the church, such as the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM).

"[Retired Archbishop] Harry Flynn came to us--we didn’t go to them, they came to us--in the late 1990s and asked us to serve as resource people for the church," the executive coordinator of CPCSM, Michael Bayly, told the Star Tribune. "Then a new pope comes in. Now the archdiocese won’t even take our phone calls."

The CPCSM has scheduled a supper and discussion for Nov. 17 in Minneapolis, at Martin’s Table Restaurant and Bookstore. The topic: "pseudo-scientific organizations" that endorse reparative therapy. But those organizations may well include the church itself, which runs "reparative" therapy groups meant to help gays learn to live celibate lives.

One such group is called Courage; its web site quotes national director Rev. Paul Check, who claimed, "People are relieved to know the condition [of homosexuality] is both treatable and preventable."
The Courage site asks, "Are you or a loved one experiencing homosexual attractions and looking for answers?" and then goes on to promise, "From our website you will learn about homosexuality and chastity. By developing an interior life of chastity, which is the universal call to all Christians, one can move beyond the confines of the homosexual identity to a more complete one in Christ."

DC board won’t allow gay marriage ban on ballot

A measure to let voters decide whether to ban same-sex marriages in D.C. cannot go on the ballot because it would violate a city human rights law, the Board of Elections and Ethics ruled Tuesday.
The D.C. City Council is expected to approve gay marriage next month, but opponents wanted voters to weigh in.

The elections board said allowing residents to vote on a ban would conflict with the city’s 1977 Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination.

Errol R. Arthur, chairman of the two-member board, suggested as much at an October hearing. He said in a press release Tuesday that the "laws of the District of Columbia preclude us from allowing this initiative to move forward."

Similar ballot measures derailed same-sex marriage in Maine, where lawmakers passed a statute allowing gay couples to wed but voters repealed it, and California, where voters repealed court-sanctioned gay marriage.

Homosexuality no factor in abusive priests

A preliminary report commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops on the roots of the clergy sex abuse scandal found no evidence that gay priests are more likely than heterosexual clergy to molest children, the lead authors of the study said Tuesday.

The full report by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice won’t be completed until the end of next year. But the authors said that their evidence to date found no data indicating that homosexuality was a predictor of abuse.

“What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse,” said Margaret Smith of John Jay College, in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now.”

The question has been raised repeatedly within and outside the church because the overwhelming majority of known victims were boys. As part of the church’s response to the crisis, the Vatican ordered a review of all U.S. seminaries that, among other issues, looked for any “evidence of homosexuality” in the schools.

Yet, many experts on sex offenders reject any link between sexual orientation and committing abuse. Karen Terry, a John Jay researcher, said it was important to distinguish between sexual identity and behavior, and to look at who the offender had access to when seeking victims.

The bishops had commissioned the $2 million study as part of widespread reforms they enacted at the height of the abuse crisis. The scandal erupted in 2002 with the case of one predator priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, then spread to every U.S. diocese and beyond.

Nearly 14,000 molestation claims have been filed against Catholic clergy since 1950, according to tallies the bishops have released in recent years. Abuse-related costs have reached at least $2.3 billion in the same period.

Gay couples blast federal Defense of Marriage Act

Gay married couples suing the government over a federal law that doesn’t recognize same-sex unions say there is “no legitimate or plausible” reason for having a federal definition of marriage that excludes gay couples.

The lawsuit was brought by seven gay couples and three widowers, all of whom were married in Massachusetts after it became the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage in 2004.

In court documents filed Tuesday, the couples say the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution because it denies them access to federal benefits given to other married couples, including pensions, health insurance and the ability to file joint tax returns. They argue that the law “eviscerates” the historic power of the states to establish criteria for marriage.

“DOMA marks a stark, and unique, departure from the respect and recognition the federal government has long afforded to State marital status determinations,” lawyers for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders argue in a written response to the U.S. Department of Justice motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

In a court filing in September, Justice officials made it clear that the Obama administration thinks the law is discriminatory and should be repealed. But the department said it has an obligation to defend federal laws when they are challenged in court.

The law, enacted in 1996, was passed by Congress at a time when it appeared Hawaii would become the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Opponents worried that other states would be forced to recognize such marriages.

Schwarzenegger rules out another run for office

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t say what his plans are when his term expires next year, but it won’t be running for another office.

“I have never labeled myself as a politician, so I am not going to run for anything else,” Schwarzenegger told reporters on Tuesday.

Schwarzenegger said he will spend the next year trying to solve problems including a projected multibillion dollar shortfall in next year’s budget.

California Church Asks: "Would Jesus Discriminate?"

In California’s San Joaquin, where Proposition 8 passed last year by double-digit margins, one gay-affirming church is preparing to challenge fellow resident’s prejudices against marriage equality.

Early next year, the Valley Ministries Metropolitan Community Church in Stockton, Calif. plans to launch its own “Would Jesus Discriminate” campaign, a nationwide MCC initiative under the website banner WhyWouldWe.org. Outreach to conservative counties in California is crucial, given an effort to repeal Proposition 8 next year, led by grassroots groups like Love Honor Cherish, next year is well under way. Marriage equality forces have until April to collect nearly 700,000 voter signatures by April 12, though organizers assert they likely will need to gather 1 million signatures.

But the Stockton effort will also tackle other issues of inequality, including discrimination in employment and housing, Valley Ministries MCC Rev. Terri Miller told The Stockton Record. “It’s meant to open dialogue with other communities of faith. Especially living in the San Jaoquin Valley, you have people who I would call very close-minded, who use God’s word to beat people up instead of [to] love people.”

Other MCC congregations have launched media campaigns, including a Dallas billboard effort that includes slogans like "Jesus affirmed a gay couple" -- a reference to the gospel story of Jesus healing the "servant" of a Roman soldier (his male lover, according to some biblical scholars) -- and "Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve."

The campaign is a play on the "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelet phenomenon, embraced by many evangelical Christians earlier in the decade. The predominately LGBT Metropolitan Community Church denomination, which has 250 congregations in more than 20 countries, has used the antidiscrimination message in previous campaigns in Texas and Indiana, among other states.

Oklahoma Lawmaker Wants State to Legislate Exemption from the Recently-Passed Federal Hate Crimes Bill

Comparing homosexuality to necrophilia, Oklahoma State Sen. Steve Russell (R-Oklahoma City) plans to introduce a bill that would exempt the state from having to abide by the recently passed Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act on the basis of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The 10th amendment reads, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Says Russell, who is upset that the bill was attached to a Department of Defense bill: “The bill gives the federal government power that was not given to them in the Constitution. I am aware of the supremacy of the federal government over state governments, but the federal requirements are vague enough for us to make actions. We just have to be very careful on how we proceed.”

Russell says he considered finding a way of still taking the $5 million in federal funds that the Hate Crimes Act provides state agencies but decided against it because it would "be a compromise in the values of his bill."

The Oklahoma Daily reports: "Russell said because the government has decided to intervene on issues of morality, he is worried that religious leaders who speak out against any lifestyle could be imprisoned for their speech. 'The law is very vague to begin with,' Russell said. 'Sexual orientation is a very vague word that could be extended to extremes like necrophilia.' Russell said he is also concerned if someone is attacked and killed for his or her sexual orientation, the suspect could pass the blame onto a religious leader who preached out against the lifestyle of the victim who was attacked."

Said Russell: “The federal government should not be creating a special class of people, and that is just what they did when they passed and signed this bill. All crimes against another person have some level of hate in them, and people can be assured that our laws that protect people against crimes such as murder are sufficient to protect everyone.”

Five New Initiatives Filed to Repeal Prop 8?

KSBW Sacramento reports that five new initiatives to repeal Proposition 8 received approval on Monday. Proponents must gather 694,354 for each: "All five measures begin with language stating that each would repeal current provisions in the state constitution that restricts marriage between a man and a woman."

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N.J. Marriage Bill Stalls in Committee

A bill that would allow same-sex marriage in the Garden State may not make it to the governor's desk before his exit in January.

According to the head of the New Jersey senate’s judiciary committee, a bill that w
ould allow same-sex marriage in the Garden State does not have enough votes to move on to the full senate.

“Today, as I stand here, we do not have the votes in the judiciary committee,” state senator Paul Sarlo, chair of the judiciary committee, said Friday, reports the Associated Press. “Until somebody can demonstrate that we have the votes in the judiciary committee, it will not be posted.”

Gay rights activists are pushing lawmakers to adopt a marriage equality bill before the current governor, Jon S. Corzine, leaves office in January

Corzine, a Democrat, has said he would sign a same-sex marriage bill, while Governor-elect Chris Christie, a Republican, has stated he would veto such legislation.

The bill must clear the judiciary committee before the full senate can vote on the legislation. If it passes the senate and the assembly, the bill would move to the governor’s office to either be endorsed or vetoed. Assembly leaders are uncertain the bill has the votes to pass that chamber either.