ALBANY, Oct. 22 — The Republican-led New York State Senate will vote for the first time on landmark gay-rights legislation in December after having blocked its passage for decades, the Senate leader said today. The decision makes it likely that the bill will become law and hands Gov. George E. Pataki a vital victory two weeks from Election Day to help him win over gay and lesbian voters.
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"This is the breakthrough we have been fighting for for 31 years," he said. First introduced in 1971, the bill would add two words — sexual orientation — to an existing human rights law banning discrimination in housing, credit, education or employment on the basis of age, race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability or marital status. It has some limited exceptions to accommodate religious practices. Twelve other states have similar laws, as do New York City and 17 other county and local governments around the state.
