Senate Fails to Grant Marriage Equality #NYMarriageDebate

This morning, the New York State Senate voted down a bill that would have granted equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian citizens.

Accountability 2010!
Regular readers may have noticed there's a new Donate button in the sidebar. After being deeply disappointed by this morning's failure of the same-sex marriage bill, I am scrambling to organize a campaign to hold those Senators who voted NO accountable for their actions.

The next steps will be to identify which of these are the first up for re-election, which of them we have the best chance of defeating, and then which opposing candidate to support - be it a same-party candidate in the primaries or the opposing party candidate. Your support, in any way you can, makes a difference.

To all those Senators who voted in favor, thank you for being, as President Obama might say, on the right side of history. Special thanks to Senators Tom Duane, Eric Adams, Toby Ann Stavisky, Pedro Espada, Malcolm Smith, and John Sampson, for your leadership in support of the bill.

The Blacklist:

Joseph Addabbo (D)
James Alesi (R)
Darrel Aubertine (D)
John Bonacic (R)
John DeFrancisco (R)
Ruben Diaz (D)
Hugh Farley (R)
John Flanagan (R)
Charles Fuschillo, Jr. (R)
Martin Golden (R)
Joseph Griffo (R)
Kemp Hannon (R)
Shirley Huntley (D)
Owen Johnson (R)
Carl Kruger (D)
Andrew Lanza (R)
Bill Larkin (R)
Kenneth LaValle (R)
Vincent Leibell (R)
Tom Libous (R)
Elizabeth Little (R)
Carl Marcellino (R)
George Maziarz (R)
Roy McDonald (R)
Hiram Monserrate (D)
Thomas Morahan (R)
Michael Nozzolio (R)
George Onorato (D)
Frank Padavan (R)
Michael Ranzenhofer (R)
Joseph Robach (R)
Stephen Saland (R)
James Seward (R)
Dean Skelos (R)
William Stachowski (D)
Dale Volker (R)
George Winner (R)
Catherine Young (R)

Thanks to Irene Jay Liu from timesunion for providing the roll call.

It's Back on the Agenda: Yes on S4401

Please take a moment to call the New York State Senate and urge them to vote YES on S4401 to support marriage equality in the State of New York.

Put on your boxing gloves: It's baaaack.





English boy band Take That pose in combat boots, boxer shorts and red boxing gloves, circa 1995. L-R, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Call now 518-455-2800 and tell our Senators you support fair marriage rights and they should too. You can also access the Senate website and share your support for same sex marriage.

The language of the bill states, in part:

Same-sex couples and their children should have the same access as others to the protections, responsibilities, rights, obligations, and benefits of civil marriage...

It is the intent of the legislature that the marriages of same-sex and different-sex couples be treated equally in all respects under the law...

No application for a marriage license shall be denied on the ground that the parties are of the same, or a different, sex.

And perhaps my favorite part:

This act shall take effect immediately.

They were there. Don't let them forget their committment.

New York Governor David Paterson, second left, a supporter of gay marriage, and Michael Bloomberg, second right, mayor of New York City, participate in the Heritage of Pride Parade on June 28, 2009 in New York. (UPI Photo/Monika Graff)

He wasn't there. Don't let him get re-elected.





Anti-Gay Senator Chooses Opposition to Marriage Equality Over Party





P.S. If you live in Diaz's district in New York (32) and want to run against him for his Senate seat, please let me know.

P.P.S. I am deeply ashamed of portions of the Orthodox Jewish community that has taken upon itself to oppose this much-needed legislation. After Jews were persecuted for so many years, we of all people should understand the plight of those who are discriminated against and not join their oppressors.
















These people went to Albany to deny your civil rights.

Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, Rabbi Mordechai Biser, Chaskel Bennett, Rabbi Mechel Deutsch, Tzvi Gluck, Leon Goldenberg, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, Chaim Israel, Mendy Israel, Yoel Lefkowitz, Sender Rappoport, Avi Schron, Rabbi Moshe Schwab and Yerucham Silver.

“Here,” said Rabbi Lefkowitz, “was a group of sincere, polite and impressive Orthodox Jewish citizens, well-spoken and clearly not bigoted - but whom this bill would turn into pariahs.”

This same logic they apply to their denial of gay rights and same sex marriage argues in favor of slavery, too: The abolition of slavery turned sincere, polite, and impressive, well-spoken, and clearly not bigoted slave owners into pariahs.

In fact, when the Allies won WWII, sincere, polite, and impressive, well-spoken, and clearly not bigoted German National Socialists were turned into pariahs.

In other words, their argument is that as long as your inhumanity is directed towards sub-humans, you can be a fine upstanding citizen. But raising your sub-human victims to equal standing means your oppression of them is now vile. Which is something you'd rather not have to deal with.

I urge Agudath Israel and Orthodox Union members to read Rabbi Michael Broyde's excellent article, "Jews, Public Policy and Civil Rights: A Religious Jewish Perspective," in which he eloquently argues that "In order to vigorously protect our rights, we must be prepared to defend the rights of others even others we do not agree with." And then contact Agudah or OU and tell them to stop endangering your equal rights with their reckless opposition to an extension of civil rights.

NY Driving Tips

Most of us are familiar with the traffic light. The color of the light signals when we may drive (green light, go) and when we must stop (red light, stop). But what many tourists quickly learn is that in New York, the traffic light is an audio-visual experience. Relative quiet together with a red light means stop, and noisy honking signals an upcoming green and warns you to prepare to hit the gas.

Reasons to Love NY, from New York Magazine