New York State Lawmakers Approve Gay Marriage By Dan Wiessner - Reuters

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New York will become the sixth state to allow gay marriage after lawmakers passed the measure on Friday, a key victory for gay rights ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

New York state senators voted 33 to 29 to approve marriage equality legislation introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat in his first year of office. New York will now be the most populous state where lawmakers approved gay marriage.

"New York has finally torn down the barrier that prevented same-sex couples from exercising the freedom to marry and from receiving the fundamental protections that so many couples and families take for granted," Cuomo said in a statement.

After Cuomo signs the bill same-sex weddings can start taking place in New York in 30 days and religious institutions and nonprofit groups with religious affiliations are not compelled to officiate.

"I have to define doing the right thing as treating all persons with equality and that equality includes within the definition of marriage," said Republican Senator Stephen Saland, speaking before the bill was passed.

Cheers erupted in the Senate gallery in the state capital Albany and among a crowd of several hundred people who gathered outside New York City's Stonewall Inn, where riots following a police raid in 1969 sparked the modern gay rights movement.

"It's about time. I want to get married. I want the same rights as anyone else," Caroline Jaeger, 36, a student, who was outside the Stonewall Inn.

But New York Bishops said in a statement that they were "deeply disappointed and troubled" by the passage of the bill.

"We always treat our homosexual brothers and sisters with respect, dignity and love. But we just as strongly affirm that marriage is the joining of one man and one woman," they said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an advocate for gay marriage who lobbied state lawmakers in recent weeks, said the vote was an "historic triumph for equality and freedom."

"Together, we have taken the next big step on our national journey toward a more perfect union," he said in a statement.

ELECTION ISSUE

President Barack Obama, who attended a fundraiser in New York on Thursday for Gay Pride Week, has a nuanced stance of gay issues and could risk alienating large swathes of the electorate if he came out strongly in favor of such matters as gay marriage before the 2012 polls, experts say.

During the 2008 election Obama picked up important support from Evangelicals, African Americans, and socially conservative Latinos and Catholics -- who all oppose gay marriage, which has become a contentious social issue being fought state-by-state.

In California a judge last year overturned a ban on gay marriage, but no weddings can take place while the decision is being appealed. It could set national policy if the case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.

Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage, and Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey approved civil unions. The first legal same-sex marriages in the United States took place in Massachusetts in 2004.

But gay marriage is banned in 39 states, according to the The National Conference of State Legislatures.

In New York a recent Siena poll found 58 percent of New Yorkers support gay marriage, while nationally the U.S. public is nearly evenly split with 45 percent in favor and 46 percent opposed, according to a Pew Research poll released last month.

New York's Democrat-dominated Assembly voted 80 to 63 in favor of gay marriage last week and again passed the amended legislation on Friday 82 to 47.

A key sticking point had been over an exemption that would allow religious officials to refuse to perform services or lend space for same-sex weddings. Most Republicans were concerned the legal protection was not strong enough, so legislative leaders worked with Cuomo to amend his original bill.

"God, not Albany, settled the definition of marriage a long time ago," said Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister and the only Democrat to vote against the measure.

However fears of a slew of litigation arising from a possible religious exemption to New York's proposed same-sex marriage law are not borne out by experience with similar laws in other states, legal experts say.

(Additional reporting by Phil Wahba, writing by Michelle Nichols)

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NY Reopens Bidding for Aqueduct Racetrack Slots by Joan Gralla - Reuters

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The New York Lottery said on Tuesday it restarted its search for a video lottery terminal vendor for Aqueduct Racetrack after the previous choice was rejected amid state and federal probes.

Previously, the governor and top legislators were involved in choosing a slot-machine vendor.

But this time, the winner will be selected by a committee to be led by the Lottery director and staffed by Lottery workers and a representative of the state Division of Budget, the Lottery said in a statement.

In March, Governor David Paterson, a Democrat, said an "apolitical" method would be used to pick a new supplier after state and federal authorities began probing whether Aqueduct Entertainment Group had won the lucrative contract to assist one of Paterson's political allies, the Rev. Floyd Flake, who is a former congressman.

The slot machine probes were one of several investigations that led Paterson to quit his election bid a week after launching it.

The governor had included $300 million from the Aqueduct slots vendor in his initial budget plan, and New York needs the money now more than ever, as its deficit tops $9 billion. The new slots selection committee was given a 12-week deadline for making its recommendation to Paterson.

"All bids will be made public once a winner is selected," and the Request for Proposals will be posted on websites," the New York Lottery said in a statement.

For years, New York governors have tried and failed to offer gamblers slot machines at Aqueduct Racetrack, located in New York City's borough of Queens.

The list of previous companies that bid for the contract includes SL Green Realty Corp (SLG.N) with Seminole Hard Rock Casinos, MGM Mirage (MGM.N), Harrah's Entertainment HAMLEH.UL, Pennsylvania National, Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN.O), Delaware North and The Peebles Corporation, as well as the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and the Victoria Racing Club, which were working with New York-based Capital Play.