【英语生活】同性婚姻问题改变美国政治对阵形势

New York's decision to permit same-sex marriages sets the stage for battles in half a dozen other states and could propel gay rights as a political wedge issue in the 2012 elections.

The new battle lines were already being drawn as states such as Minnesota prepared to take on the same-sex marriage issue in the near future and as the New York law put fresh pressure on President Barack Obama to articulate a clearer position on the topic.

Gay-rights advocates, who celebrated Sunday at parades across the country, said New York's move─a bill permitting same-sex marriage that was championed by Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo and passed by a Republican-led state Senate on Friday─marked a turning point in the nearly 20-year political and legal debate over the definition of marriage. 'This is an immense win that brings giant momentum to the movement to end marriage discrimination in the U.S.,' said Evan Wolfson, president of national gay rights group Freedom to Marry.

After the gay-pride parade Sunday in New York, Mr. Cuomo said, 'I think you're going to see this message resonate all across the country now. If New York can do it, it's OK for every other place to do it.'

Opponents said they would go on the attack against Republicans who support gay marriage. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said New York's move was a 'disaster for the Republican party,' and that his group planned to spend $2 million over the next 18 months to defeat the legislators who supported it.

But those GOP lawmakers also received pledges of support from Wall Street, including from hedge fund manager Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management. The political action committee of the Gill Action foundation, started by Tim Gill, promised aid.

A cadre of financial executives including Paul Singer, head of New York-based Elliott Associates, have been organizing efforts to support gay marriage for more than a year.

President Obama, who supports civil unions, has said his position on same-sex marriage is 'evolving.' At a Manhattan fund-raiser with gay and lesbian donors Thursday, Mr. Obama expressed support for the process New York was undergoing. In doing so, he angered some Democratic supporters, who said leaving marriage up to states shifts the burden in what they believe should be a federal issue.

A May Gallup poll, echoing a March Washington Post-ABC News poll, found 53% of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be recognized as valid, with the same rights as heterosexual marriages. The poll, which has a sampling error of 4%, found 44% support for same-sex marriage last year.

Opponents point to a May Alliance Defense Fund poll which claimed a 2.53% margin of error found that 62% of Americans think marriage should be defined 'only as a union between one man and one woman.'

美国纽约州允许同性结婚的决定，可能会在另外六个州点燃相关争执，并有可能促使同性恋权利问题成为2012年大选中一个引发选民严重分歧的政治议题。

当地时间上周五晚，同性婚姻法案在美国纽约州艰难获得通过，大批支持者对此进行了庆祝。本视频内容来自福克斯新闻。随着明尼苏达等州为在不远的将来着手处理同性婚姻问题做准备，以及纽约州通过的这项法律进一步增加了要美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)在同性婚姻问题上采取更明确立场的压力，新的战线已经被划制出来。

同性恋维权人士周日在全美各地游行以示庆祝。他们说，纽约州允许同性结婚的法案由民主党籍州长库莫(Andrew Cuomo)提出、上周五又在该州由共和党控制的参议院获得通过，这标志着近20年来围绕如何定义婚姻的政治和法律辩论来到了一个转折点。全国同性恋权利组织“结婚自由”(Freedom to Marry)的负责人沃尔夫森(Evan Wolfson)说，这是一场重大胜利，为终结美国婚姻歧视的运动带来了巨大动力。

纽约州州长库莫在纽约周日的同性恋游行后说，我觉得现在你们将看到这一信息在全国回响，如果说纽约州可以办到，那么其他所有地方也不是问题。

反对者说，他们将继续攻击支持同性婚姻的共和党人。“全国婚姻组织”(National Organization for Marriage)的负责人布朗(Brian Brown)说，纽约州此举对于共和党来说是一场“灾难”，他所在的组织计划在未来18个月出资200万美元，把支持同性婚姻的议员们选下去。

但这些支持同性婚姻的共和党议员也获得了华尔街的支持承诺，AQR Capital Management公司的对冲基金经理阿斯尼斯(Cliff Asness)以及吉尔(Tim Gill)所创“吉尔行动”(Gill Action)基金会的政治行动委员会都做出了援助承诺。

一年多以来，纽约对冲基金Elliott Associates的负责人辛格(Paul Singer)等几位金融业高管一直在组织支持同性婚姻的活动。

奥巴马支持同性之间的“民事结合”（civil unions），他曾说，自己对同性婚姻的立场正在“演变”。上周四在曼哈顿一个由同性恋捐款人参加的筹款活动上，奥巴马对纽约州当时正在进行的立法过程表示支持。部分民主党支持者被他这一表态所激怒，他们说，同性婚姻是否合法的问题本来应该在联邦层面解决，让各州定夺等于是推卸责任。

5月份进行的一项盖洛普(Gallup)民意测验发现，53%的美国人认为同性婚姻应被视为有效，并且应该拥有和异性婚姻一样的权利。这与《华盛顿邮报》(Washington Post)和美国广播公司(ABC)3月份一次联合民调的结果差不多。盖洛普的调查还发现，去年支持同性婚姻的人有44%。这次调查的抽样误差率为4%。

反对同性恋的人则拿出了Alliance Defense Fund在5月份一项误差率为2.53%的调查。这份调查发现，62%的美国人认为婚姻只应该被定义为“一个男人和一个女人的结合”。