Gay marriage's big defeat

New York state senators rejected a proposal to legalize gay marriage on Wednesday. Opponents of same-sex marriage celebrated, saying the unexpectedly wide margin -- 38 to 24 -- in a relatively liberal state was proof that they had reversed the momentum for gay marriage after it was legalized in Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. "It most likely spells the end of the idea that you can pass gay marriage democratically anywhere else in the United States," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage. Was this a decisive defeat for gay marriage? (Watch raw video of the New York Senate rejecting a gay marriage bill)

See? The mainstream doesn't want gay marriage: The losers may blame "ignorant upstate Republicans," says Glenn Reynolds in Instapundit.com, but, as state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. said, the people of blue state New York think marriage is between a man and a woman. And he's a Democrat.

"Those bigoted blue staters"

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Actually, New Yorkers favor gay marriage: As the senators voted down gay marriage, says Paul Steinhauser in CNN.com, a Marist College poll found that 51 percent of New Yorkers approve of gay marriage, while only 42 percent oppose it. And on Tuesday the city council in Washington, D.C., moved the nation's capital one step closer toward legalizing gay marriage.

"As N.Y. lawmakers nix legal gay marriage, poll indicates voters support it"

Gay marriage advocates need to slow down: A few months ago it looked like gay marriage was "on an inexorable path to approval" in the liberal Northeast, says Kate Zernike in The New York Times. Then voters rejected gay marriage in Maine, and now this. Most Americans support recognizing either gay marriages or same-sex civil unions, but "the optimism got ahead of the reality."

"Amid small wins, advocates lose marquee battles"