Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: New York joins gay marriage battle
New York is now the center of the gay marriage debate and it makes me nervous. I know. Coward. Lacking appropriate radical fortitude. Meh. We’ll get to that later. Let’s start the morning with some kindness. Governor David Paterson’s words went to the heart of the matter when he introduced the legislation yesterday.
“Marriage equality is about basic civil rights and personal freedom,” the governor said. “Too many individuals face legal discrimination every single day. Too many loving families do not receive the legal recognition they deserve. Anyone who has ever faced intolerance of any kind knows the solemn importance of protecting the rights of all people. That is why we stand together today to embrace civil rights for every New Yorker. We stand together today for marriage equality in the State of New York.”
Paterson demolished the whole “special rights” line, which some conservatives now throw out, and put the debate where it should be: as part of the country’s long march to freedom. So if gay marriage is your issue, you better get behind Paterson. But let’s not forget the politics behind his announcement. The governor’s poll numbers are wretched. His political base in New York City is starting to turn on him. If he decides to run for reelection, few give him good odds of winning (and don’t even get me started on the state’s budget woes).
So a weak, politically, pol puts his neck on the line. Not a profile of courage really. Not only that, but Paterson stepped on all the quiet hard work that was being done to make marriage rights a reality. But give gay rights groups in New York credit. The only folk giving Paterson grief are pissy bloggers who two weeks ago were calling for the Empire State to step up to the gay marriage plate.
“We very much appreciate Governor Paterson introducing a marriage equality program bill into the legislature and continuing the momentum that has been growing on this important issue over the past several weeks,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda.
Senator Tom Duane, who was a bit leery of the Paterson push initially, now thinks there are Republicans peers who will support the bill. Something that will be required with conservative Democrats slamming Paterson today.
If Paterson is able to pull this off, mock as much as you need to. If he fails and makes it harder to get gay marriage in New York, I’ll try not to gloat much.
Governnor Paterson has been a LONG supporter of marriage equality. To say that he’s introducing a bill just to further his career is ingrateful.
Mr. Withers,
I certainly hope that you would not gloat if the bid to set marriage equality failed in NY. That would be disingenuous and anti-equal rights.
Then when is the “right” time, James? Let’s see…can’t be an even-numbered year, because there’ll be Federal elections. Should it wait until Upstate legislators allow the City to re-impose income tax on commuters into NYC? Should it wait until there is major progress on cleaning up the absolute chaos of NYS local government? Should it wait until the next NYC mayoral election? Should it wait until Buffalo and Syracuse are as job-rich as Sunbelt cities? The two persistent obstacles are the Upstate/Downstate (meaning Greater NYC)divide, and the state legislature which has come to function as a poorly-run transfer program to keep nearly all of Upstate from bankruptcy. Oh–almost forgot. There’s Diaz in the Bronx, waving the religion flag for the state Dems. Why do you seem less interested in the concrete gesture of calling him out for his bigotry, or any concrete gestures by anybody, than in the abstract argument of “it’s not the right time.” With everything I’ve listed (and plenty more there’s not room for), how is now not the “right” time for marriage equality in NYS? And if it doesn’t pass on this try, what rule is there that says we can’t try again? What is your argument for New Yorkers having even greater inequality than the “compromise” mess that Jersey got into?