Last week, the so-called Equality Amendment advanced toward floor votes in both the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. What this means is that the Democratic leadership in the New York State Legislature is making its extremist pro-abortion, pro-LGBT agenda a top priority at the very beginning of this year’s legislative session.
The so-called Equality Amendment would amend the New York State Constitution to include several new antidiscrimination categories, including “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” New York law already contains extremist policies regarding abortion, sexuality, and gender identity; the Equality Amendment would elevate and protect those extremist policies by placing them into the text of the New York State Constitution. In so doing, the Amendment would make it impossible for the legislature to repeal New York’s pro-abortion laws in future years without the help of the voters. This proposed constitutional amendment passed both houses of the New York State Legislature on July 1, 2022. To become effective, it must be re-passed by the Senate and the Assembly in 2023 and must then be approved by New York voters at the ballot box.
On January 17, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Equality Amendment by a vote of 16 to two. All 12 Democratic committeemembers supported the Amendment, as did Republican Sens. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Malverne), Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury), and Steve Rhoads (R-Bellmore). Republican Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) voted “aye without recommendation,” which means that he supported advancing the bill without indicating how he will vote if the bill comes to the Senate floor. Only Sens. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) and Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats) voted against the Amendment. The Republican votes for this dangerous measure are deeply disappointing.
On January 18, 2023, the Assembly Judiciary Committee approved the Equality Amendment by a party-line vote of 15 to six. Full committee voting records are available below.
If you have not already done so, please help us fight back against the dangerous Equality Act by contacting your state legislators today.
***
Equality Amendment
Bill S.108-Krueger/A.1283-Seawright
Senate Judiciary Committee Vote: Jan 17, 2023
Ayes (15):
Bailey
Breslin
Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick
Gounardes
Hoylman-Sigal
Liu
Martins
Myrie
Ramos
Rhoads
Ryan
Sepúlveda
Skoufis
Stavisky
Thomas
Nays (2)
Lanza
O’Mara
Aye Without Recommendation (AWR) (1)
Palumbo
Excused (1)
Mayer
***
Equality Amendment
Bill S.108-Krueger/A.1283-Seawright
Assembly Judiciary Committee Vote: January 18, 2023
Ayes: 15
Lavine
Zebrowski
Weprin
Braunstein
Steck
Seawright
Joyner
Wallace
Walker
Cruz
McMahon
Mitaynes
Rajkumar
Simon
Sayegh
Nays: 6
Tannousis
Norris
Walsh
Byrnes
Brown
Flood