Englebright: 'It Was an Exalted Noise'

Members of the New York State Assembly knew exactly when the marriage equality vote had taken place in the Senate chamber Friday night.

Assemb. Steve Englebright, D-Setauket was in the Assembly chamber with his colleagues when an uproar echoed throughout the capitol building.

"It was an exalted noise, much like you might find in a cathedral," said Englebright, who voted to support the bill when it passed the Assembly the week before. "It was loud. It was people singing and cheering and crying. It was a sound that was so different from before."

But in an interview on Saturday, Englebright said he and his colleagues didn't know which way that vote had gone for another ten minutes, until news began to circulate that New York State had just legalized same-sex marriage with a 33-29 Senate vote.

Leading up to the vote, Englebright said, there was a constant noise in Albany all week, which he said he observed by taking a walk around the capitol building.

"There were people from both sides of the issue on their knees singing and praying ... a mixture of howling and singing and praying that filled the entire capitol building," he said. "It went on pretty much day and night for the last three days. It was really quite stunning. There were priests and ministers intermingled with same-sex couples, young and old."