Not a single Republican state senator voted in favor of extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians yesterday (which doesn’t mean a few of them, privately, don’t favor doing so; blame politics), but Rochester’s Jim Alesi might have come the closest. Alesi had been considered likely to support the measure; though he never came right out and declared his position publicly, he “issued vague statements hinting that he is open to voting yes,” according to the Times. When it was his turn to vote, Alesi waited a few seconds his eyes closed, head down, hands over his face before saying the word he probably didn’t want to say: “No.” We’ve reached out to Alesi’s office to ask what was going through his head at that moment, but this short clip already speaks volumes.
Video: Alesi votes no [Times-Union]
