Comments on: Poll: Support strong for gay marriage in New York State

By: Art

Art — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:26:10 +0000

I emailed Maj. Leader Smith and got no response. I asked him flat out who was not supporting Gay Marriage in NY state.
I believe he is the one dragging his feet.
I want’t EQUAL FEDERAL RIGHTS. No more, no less. So it will still be up to President Obama to take action. If he doesn’t, there will be a Million Queer March in DC in the Fall. The time is NOW!!!!!

By: LOrion

LOrion — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:23:20 +0000

Well, for all those who want ‘Civil Unions’ remember, that the police, hospitals, insurance companies, adoption agencies, employers will deny equal benefits no matter what the laws say.
Only MARRIAGE is Equal and will get Equal Rights under the law.
I have a friend here who had CU/DP for 5 years, Will, Powers of Attorney for Health and General. and the Coroner said he did not ‘believe’ in those laws, when his partner died, and tried to take all the partners belongings, when he was still warm in their bed!!!! NOT THE SAME!!!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:35:35 +0000

I believe the wait for gay marriage to be legalized anywhere is over due…. I would love to see it be legalized in New York not because I am gay but because my twin sister is and I would like to be by her side when her and her girlfriend get married and it would also be nice for it to be in our own state. I 100% agree with Same Sex Marriage

By: Irene

Irene — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:49:25 +0000

I don’t under stand the question of should it be a civil union or a marriage? As a black American, why don’t you ask me to ride on the back of the bus? After all, I am on the bus and getting a ride!
Marriage isn’t sanctioned by God, Holy Matrimony is. Get over it and let everyone have equal rights.

By: drewski

drewski — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:59:23 +0000

I’m with Johannes. Yeah, I understand the idea of waiting ’til the time is right, but when is “right”? Who gets to make that decision–maybe somebody who isn’t affected by the decision? That’s the same incrementalist argument that was used for civil rights. Eventually it came down to the Black Panthers and Malcolm X looking a lot worse than some nice respectable folk from the NAACP or the Urban League. So we have incrementalist gays, angry gays and I-just-might-burn-down-your-house-’cause-it’s-Monday gays. It helped a majority-white US (especially elected officials) take civil rights a little more seriously, so why not?

Why post the Upstate results and not Downstate? Downstate–Greater NYC–is 13 million out of 20 million state residents, or two-thirds of the state. Draw an arc from Port Jervis to Kingston to the CT line–everything south of that is part of New York’s metro area. What were the results in Mid-Hudson and Lower Hudson Valley? The City? Long Island?

By: Johannes

Johannes — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:28:05 +0000

“at the present time [Malcolm Smith] does not believe there are sufficient votes in the Senate to pass the marriage equality bill”

Well, hey – why don’t we try and see? Let’s have a vote and get the senators on the record. Maybe, once they have to take a stance, we can sway some undecideds – it worked in Vermont! And if it doesn’t work, we’ll know who we need to lobby and/or defeat in the next election / primary. And if we don’t get all the Democrats’ votes, maybe there are enough Republicans who will vote for the bill, because they have a gay child or parent or simply believe in equality. We won’t know until we try is better than we won’t try until we know. Get on with it already, you wimps.

By: Robert Stuck

Robert Stuck — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:14:10 +0000

Blah Blah Blah. So all of the mighty politicians believe in gay marriage. But then why don’t we have it? We don’t have even as much as a domestic partner registry. If they truly believe that gay marriage is the right thing they should stop yapping and get moving. Do the right thing guys and gals.

By: tjr

tjr — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:22:51 +0000

I wouldn’t hold my breath for same-sex marriage in NY. The Democrats now hold majorities in both the assembly and the senate. Yet there are a handful of conservative Democrats in the senate who are staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage. These conservative Democrats actually threatened to support the Republican party in the Senate if any same-sex marriage bill was introduced. Had these Democrats crossed the aisle the Republicans would have maintained control of the senate.

This is why Malcolm Smith says there is not enough votes because the Democratic majority in the senate is waffer thin. The gay-friendly Gov. David Patterson is also hugely unpopular at the moment with approval ratings in the teens. Neighboring state New Jersey seems more likely to get marriage equality before New York.

By: Chad

Chad — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:50:53 +0000

As nice as it is to see increasing public support for marriage equality, the fact of the matter is that this issue should not be decided by a “majority rules” attitude. Our government has the duty to ensure equality and freedom for ALL its citizens. After all, most people still favored anti-miscegenation laws when they were deemed unconstitutional by the courts.

By: Patrick in Connecticut

Patrick in Connecticut — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:02:21 +0000

If the legislature is supposed to follow the will of the people like robots, as all of the religious conservatives have shouted every time the issue of marriage equality has come before a legislature (especially in states where there was a great deal of opposition to extending rights to same-sex couples), why is it that the New York legislature is dragging it’s feet when the people of the state are in favor of marriage? Just a thought for the religious conservatives (who never really play politics fair anyway) to ponder.