Andrew Cuomo signed the Marriage Equality Bill very shortly after the Republican dominated Senate passed it with a 33-29 vote making New York the sixth US State to allow same sex marriages and extending a number of the rights and benefits held by married couples. That law will lead the way for couples to marry in the state in thirty days and will allow for couples, many of whom have been together for decades to document their union, legally.

There were a number of supporters or the bill, including New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg who called the action “a historic triumph for equality and freedom.” Pop star, Lady Gaga urged her millions of fans to call their senators to urge them to vote in favor of the bill, leaving the numbers and contact information on her Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. After the bill was signed, she took to those accounts and thanked the efforts of her “little monsters” as she calls her fans and then urged them to rejoice and to go out and propose to the one that they love. Thousands of supporters of the Bill took to the streets and gathered together to reflect nad to celebrate this historic move.

There are plenty of opponents for the Marriage Equality Bill, however. Those groups spent millions of dollars trying to block the bill from even getting to the Senate and have vowed to work tirelessly to get the bill repealed. The state’s Catholic Bishops signed a joint statement, saying that this law would allow “marriage and family to be undermined.” It was signed by the Archbishop, Timothy M. Dolan and seven other bishops. The bill’s opponents have vowed to take political action against any of the Republicans who voted in support of it.

New York was the hotbed of the gay rights movement in the 1960’s but failed to become the first state to adopt a same sex marriage law. It now joins the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire as well as the District of Columbia in allowing people of the same sex to wed. It also may open the door for other states as well.

Maryland has had a same sex marriage bill in limbo for much of the year after it stalled once it hit the House of Delegates. Equality Maryland, the largest gay rights lobby in that state suggests that the bill be reexamined in light of these recent events in New York. Religious groups in Maryland, including several predominantly black churches are vowing to do everything they can to block the proposal from moving forward and from becoming law.

Many companies in the United States do extend limited health care and other insurance coverage to partners of gay workers while other companies do not. Some advocates pointed out that some benefits are given to unmarried couples but are specifically denied to same sex couples.