Daniel O’DonnellAlumnus class of '87
The first time the bill that would legalize same-sex marriage was announced in the New York State Assembly in 2007, Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell (’87), sponsor of the bill, thought that would be “the greatest political thrill” of his life. “I was wrong,” he said. Four years and three failed Senate appearances later, the Marriage Equality Act was finally signed into law this past June.
When O’Donnell was elected to the legislature in 2002, he joined as the first openly gay man to serve in the assembly. He had always wanted to be a politician, but “there was nobody gay in public life, so I had no expectation that it could happen,” he said. At a colleague’s suggestion, however, he got involved in local politics, and then, when the assembly member who represented his district retired, “I was the candidate to beat.” O’Donnell won the seat with a 34 percent majority in an eight-way race.
Soon after he joined the assembly, Roberta Kaplan, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, convinced O’Donnell and his life partner to become plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming that denying same-sex partners the right to marry violated the state constitution. The plaintiffs lost, but the case, along with a dissent from Judge Judith Kaye that called the decision “an unfortunate misstep,” built momentum for a same-sex marriage bill in the state.
Although the bill had only 24 supporters in the assembly in April 2007, by June of that year, O’Donnell had built enough support for the bill that it passed the assembly with 85 votes. “That was the real victory. Once the House resoundingly voted, it put the Senate and governor’s office on notice,” O’Donnell said.
The Senate, however, remained problematic. The assembly passed the bill again twice in 2009, but the bill failed to pass the Senate both times. “It required some finesse to hold on to those votes,” O’Donnell said. To keep up momentum, “we sent communications and worked with advocacy groups,” he said. The bill finally passed the Senate on June 24, 2011, and was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo that same day, making New York the sixth state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
“The American dream is evolving,” said O’Donnell. “And who America is, is evolving. To the extent we can bring people into the fold, despite detractors who don’t quite see it that way, this is an integral step.”
O’Donnell credits CUNY Law with playing a role in helping him get into public service. “If there weren’t an affordable public law school, I wouldn’t have become a lawyer,” he said. The price was right, but CUNY Law’s mission is what convinced him. When his mother’s friend gave him a New York Times article about the opening of a law school focused on law in the service of human needs, he said, “I read the article and thought ‘That’s me! That is what I want to do with my life.’”
With same-sex marriages now being granted in New York, O’Donnell believes the likelihood of similar initiatives passing in other states has moved forward “exponentially.”
“I end many of my speeches with this quote from Thomas Jefferson: ‘Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions,’” he said. With the Marriage Equality Act in New York State and the end of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, O’Donnell believes we are now a few steps closer to realizing Jefferson’s vision.
O’Donnell himself is closer to realizing part of his own vision: He and his partner, John Banta, are now engaged to be married.
