ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The chairman of the Conservative Party of New York State (CPNYS) berated the state Democratic Committee for approving a resolution calling for the recognition of gay marriages.

“The Democratic Party has slammed the door on family values,” said Michael Long one day after the state party leaders, meeting in Buffalo, backed legislation that would recognize civil marriages between same-sax couples. “They have slammed the door on the institution of marriage.”

Long predicted the action would hurt New York Democrats at the ballot box.

“To call for the recognition of a marriage between two men is part of a death knell for the Democratic Party in the state of New York,” Long said.

The Democratic Party’s action in Buffalo came in the wake of last year’s endorsement of Republican Gov. George Pataki by the state’s largest gay and lesbian lobbying group, the Empire State Pride Agenda.

The key endorsement came after Pataki convinced a recalcitrant GOP-led state Senate to adopt legislation that barred discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment and public services. Long, a Pataki ally, publicly criticized the governor at the time for backing the gay rights legislation.

The governor easily won a third term.

Democratic Party leaders said their adoption of the gay marriage resolution was not aimed at the ballot box.

“Inclusion is the hallmark of the Democratic Party. While others choose to be divisive, Democrats are working hard to bring all Americans together and to bridge the divisions of race, ethnicity, class, religion, and sexual orientation,” state Democratic Chairman Herman Farrell said.

“New York Democrats leave the rhetoric about family values to other parties,” said Farrell, a state assemblyman from Manhattan.

The same-sex marriage bill was introduced earlier this year in each chamber of the Legislature, but failed to get out of committee in either house. It is sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and state Senator Thomas Duane, both liberal Manhattan Democrats. Duane is one of three openly gay members of the Legislature.

The measure is given almost no chance of passage in the GOP-led Senate and its future in the Democratic-led Assembly is uncertain. A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, said he hadn’t yet formed a personal opinion about the measure and hadn’t discussed it with his Democratic colleagues in that chamber’s majority.

Long said that by adopting a resolution supporting the legislation, the Democratic Party’s state leadership was pandering to special interests and that it would backfire at the ballot box.

“If one wonders why more and more middle-class people are deserting the Democratic Party, it’s because they no longer represent what they represented in the days of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Al Smith,” Long said.

State GOP Chairman Alexander Treadwell has said he is against the civil marriage legislation. A spokesman for Pataki said the governor liked the law the way it was.

Democratic Party organizations in California and in Washington state have adopted similar resolutions.