Tomorrow: Newsom, Paterson Co-Host Prop 8 Fundraiser In Manhattan

Tomorrow in Manhattan: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and NY Gov. David Paterson will co-host a $5000 a plate fundraiser to fight California's Proposition 8.

Gov. David A. Paterson, who has made legalizing same-sex marriage in New York a priority of his administration, is lending his support to gay and lesbian advocates in California who are fighting a proposal to define marriage there as between a man and a woman.

Mr. Paterson, along with Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, will headline a fund-raiser on Thursday at the East Side home of Michael Recanati and Ira Statfeld, two philanthropists.

Tickets to get into the event will start at $5,000. The money raised will be used for efforts to defeat Proposal 8, the ballot initiative that would amend the California constitution to recognize only marriages between heterosexual couples. Proposal 8 was put on the ballot in response to a decision in May by the California Supreme Court, which ordered the state to begin processing marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

Efforts on both sides of the battle over Proposition 8 have been pitched. Religious groups led by Mormons and Catholics have poured millions of dollars into the campaign to promote the initiative.

On the other side of the issue are prominent California politicians like Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor. And recently some big Hollywood names have donated money, including Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg, who each gave $100,000. Polling has shown that Californians are split on the issue.

Advocates of same-sex marriage in New York have found a loyal supporter in Mr. Paterson, who directed all state agencies earlier this year to recognize marriages between homosexual couples that were performed outside the state.

Currently New York does not permit gay marriage. But the a state appeals court ruled earlier this year that the state was bound to honor marriages of same-sex couples that were entered into in jurisdictions that permit them like Massachusetts or Spain.

The State Assembly, but not the State Senate, has passed a bill legalizing gay marriage. If Democrats, who currently control the Assembly but not the Senate, win enough seats in November to take control of the Senate, it is likely a gay marriage bill would pass.

Paterson is a dogsend, ain't he? Who would have thought that we may end up partly owing marriage equality rights in New York to Ashley Dupre?