By Josh D. Simon

As reported by Reuters, a group of gay rights activists in New York State are fighting to get supporters and allies elected in the state’s fall Senate rates.

The group, called “Fight Back New York,” is on a mission to legalize same-sex marriage in New York – a motion that was defeated in the legislature three months ago by a margin of 38-24.

Assisting the group’s efforts is software entrepreneur and philanthropist Tim Gill, "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon, and brother of television personality Rosie O’Donnell. A host of New York's on and off-Broadway plays are also focusing on gay rights issues; so many, in fact, that the season is being called "the unofficial spring festival of gay theater" by the New York Times.

While critics such as Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, note that the same-sex activists are fighting an uphill battle, the group feels that it has already won a key victory. A candidate with a record of supporting gay marriage recently won a special election to succeed Senator Hiram Monserrate. Monserrate is one of eight Democrats who broke ranks and voted against gay-marriage legislation in the recent vote.  

If Fight Back New York is successful in its efforts, New York will join Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia as the only jurisdictions that have legalized same-sex marriage.

However, even if successful, the issue of same-sex marraige promises to remain divisive and confrontational for the foreseeable future. Forty states have already passed bills banning same-sex marriages, including Maine, which repealed an earlier decision to legalize it. And on the west coast, the California Federal Court is hearing a challenge to the state’s voter-led Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in 2008. 

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