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.

Thank You Ms. Stavisky For Your Support

Write your Senator today!

Applause for Governor Spitzer

A response to Spitzer Pushes For Shameful Bill.

Since when was a doctrine of tolerance "shameful" to Jews? Have we forgotten the centuries of oppression we suffered because others could not accept our religious way of life? Should we now be in the business of depriving others of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness just because the winds of power have shifted?

If, as religious Jews, we are not permitted to engage in an act or way of life, that doesn't mean we ought to impose our values on our neighbors. As Jews, we must continue to champion the ideals of freedom if we hope for our religious rights and freedoms to endure. Let us stop judging others and dictating the "right" way to live, lest power shift again and leave us the ultimate losers.