On gay marriage prevention law, a simple response, and no response

A bill under consideration (that would never come to the light of day in the Assembly, mind you) would prevent the state from recognizing out-of-state gay marriages.

Where do your reps stand?

Sen. Patty Ritchie's chief of staff got back to me this morning with an answer that makes up in brevity for what it lacks in its stated reason.

"Senator Ritchie does not support the bill," wrote Graham Wise. And that was it.

Mrs. Ritchie has said that her religion is the foundation of her belief that marriage is between one man and one woman, and it's why she'd vote against a bill that would allow gays to marry.

Sen. Joe Griffo's representatives have not yet responded on the Golden bill.

I did ask Rayan Aguam, the senator's spokesman, whether his boss supported the gay marriage push in general.

Mr. Aguam noted that Mr. Griffo voted against it last time (when it failed in 2009), said he supports the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, but he will not announce how he'll vote on a particular bill until he actually sees it.

The Golden bill comes at a time when the effort to legalize gay marriage — one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's major initiatives — seems on the ropes, thanks in large part to the Conservative Party.

Mr. Cuomo was on Fred Dicker's Albany radio show this morning, a surprise appearance to just about everyone.

He noted that, as recently as 1968, laws were on the books that prevented black people from marrying white people.

Years from now, Mr. Cuomo said, "We'll look back and say, 'We can't believe there were laws prohibiting people from marrying because they're gay.'"