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Loading ...Besen: Is NY backtracking on gay marriage?
Last year, the State Assembly voted 85-61 in favor of marriage equality. Under the control of Republicans, the Senate refused to act. Democratic Gov. David Patterson said that he would sign marriage equality into law if it reached his desk.
Essentially, what the Democrats said was, help us deliver the Senate and marriage will become a reality. The Democrats won and the voters did not punish legislators who voted in favor of gay marriage. Now, it is time to deliver.
Unfortunately, there are a few politicians who seem to want to strand marriage equality at the altar. They appear more concerned with their careers than our human rights. In the New York Times, Senator Liz Krueger used the slim defeat in California as an excuse for postponing a marriage bill.
“We want to get there, but we want to get there the right way or else we risk setting ourselves back another decade,” said Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who represents the Upper East Side. “I think the California proposition and the recognition that entities with large amounts of money who oppose same-sex marriage have decided to be large players in this have a lot of people going back to the drawing board.”
Krueger wants us to wait our turn – yet, again – and we won’t. How naive is she to act surprised that wealthy anti-gay churches gave money and time in California? Did she expect Focus on the Family to march in the gay pride parade if marriage were passed in the Senate? It is time she gets off her rear end and starts passionately defending GLBT people, instead of making lame excuses.
The other alibi for inaction is the economy. Sure, let’s fix the financial fiasco, but there is plenty of time to have a vote on same-sex marriage. Let’s also not forget that legalizing the freedom to marry in New York would be a boon for the local economy. Does the state really want New York City’s immense gay and lesbian population traveling with their fat wallets to Canada and Connecticut (and possibly New Jersey in the near future) to spend on lavish weddings?
If anything, the state motto should be, “keep the homos at home.”
And, what is wrong with the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA)? I almost never directly criticize GLBT organizations – especially a group that I admire, like ESPA. But, I was shocked to read the group’s quote in the New York Times, which said the organization was in a “quiet period” and would not respond to questions about the Senate dropping the ball on marriage. (Let’s hope this was a Thanksgiving food coma, and not official policy)
Um, we’ve been in a “quiet period” in the Senate for 40 years. It is time to be vocal and shake the slumber. Does ESPA actually think that anyone would be shocked if the statewide gay group endorsed an early vote on marriage? What kind of signal are they sending to wavering politicians if even they won’t advocate a timely vote in the nation’s most influential newspaper?
If ESPA wanted to play it safe, it could have said, “Our organization is doing everything in its power to make marriage equality a reality as quickly as possible.”
To be fair, ESPA has laid the groundwork for success and I imagine that they will, in the end, deliver. Indeed, reporter Andy Humm writes that ESPA explained to a packed forum on Nov. 24 the group’s marriage strategy. The organization has also created coalitions across the state and has lobbied Albany. What we need is for ESPA to stand firm and continue standing up to waffling politicians who have only their best interests in mind – not that of a key constituency that got them elected.
If New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut all allow-same sex marriage in the near future, it will appear that the Northeast is well on its way to becoming a discrimination-free zone. The more marriages that occur, the less anti-gay forces can claim the apocalypse is coming. This can only help matters in California if the Proposition 8 fight is revisited on the ballot.
When New York democrats agreed to support marriage equality, it was for better or worse. We helped the party do better in the elections, and if they now renege on their vows, the relationship is going to get much worse.
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The Democratic majority in the New York State Senate is by the thinest margin possible 32-30 and very wobbly given the the disloyalty of certain New York City State Senators.
Ruben Diaz, Sr. (Democratic Party State Senator from the Bronx) is strongly homophobic and has worked against the equality endeavors of GLBT persons.
Mr. Diaz, somewhat of an “oddball” in the Democratic party is peculiar in his views opposing legal abortion and civil rights for gay people. He is largely under the influence of fanatical “religious” notions.
I think the issue is not only electing Democrats into office in Albany, but also making it known to them that our support for them is conditional to their support for us.
In addition, the “bad apples” like Ruben Diaz, Sr. need to be weeded out so they do not spoil the bunch. I would have expected better from New York City.
“jumped into the dialog about NY same-sex marriage without doing their homework.”
I live in New York. The homework was done. Look, if you can’t get the job done, move aside for people who can. I find it sad, that some gay people are so willing to be apologists and defeatists. They are so willing to be shills for the Democratic party.
Sorry, but some of us hold the Democrats to same standards we do Republicans. If they don’t act on our behalf they will be judged accordingly. No lame excuses.
If Dems felt they had the votes to pass a marriage equality bill in this session, they might well introduce one. Taking control of the chamber, as significant as that was, was not sufficient to ensure passage of an equality bill, as evidenced by the public comments of Ruben Diaz in the days following the election.
Also, the past four decades demonstrate the ability of one party, once it has the opportunity to gerrymander state senate districts, to keep an almost unshakeable grip on power for decades. It is critical that Dems win the State Senate in the 2010 elections and, if they do, they will likely be able to shut Republicans out of control of the State Senate for decades, which will be a huge victory for gay equality and other progressive causes. I’m fine keeping marriage equality on the back-burner until after the 2010 elections. If Dems retain the State Senate and the governorship in those elections, I’m confident that a marriage equality bill will be passed and signed.
Some out-of-state commentators like Wayne Besen, Joe-My-God, etc., have recently jumped into the dialog about NY same-sex marriage without doing their homework. They are scolding about not pushing SSM without knowing that something much bigger is at stake.
Democrats have a 32-30 nominal majority in the state Senate. But it’s virtually impossible for a Republican to win in Manhattan, Bronx, and Brooklyn. So some DINOs get elected. There are 3 big ones – One is an ordained minister who opposes all gay rights issues. Another was senator from another district before 2002, and he sat with the Republicans back then. He won this year with Republican backing, and with Democrats suing to try to stop him from running as a Democrat (they lost the case). The third is an anti-rent-control crusader who gets most of his money from Republicans, and who was the only Democrat to chair a committee in recent years while Republicans have been in control. These 3 will vote against SSM if it comes up, so we would lose 29-33.
So such a vote would just again display our inability to win, and would convince fence-sitters across the country that it’s not the time to jump off onto our side.
But the real stakes are much higher than SSM. When the new Senate is seated in January, the head honcho will be determined not by the number of Democrats elected, but by how many vote for a new leader. Two of the 3 DINOs mentioned above still have a threat on the table that they will vote for a Republican for leader unless they get substantial bribes, including a promise by Democrats not to bring SSM to a vote. If this happens, there will be no change of leadership at all, the Republicans will continue to control the Senate as they have for the last 70 years. It’s unfortunate, but the anti-gay DINOs hold the high cards in this session, and nothing can be done about it. Nothing but disaster can come from Democrats insisting on a SSM vote this term.
It’s clear what needs to be done. Begin the campaign now to constantly expose these DINOs as traitors for the next 2 years, and then maybe they can be defeated in 2010. There’s no guarantee even then – NYC is subject to notoriously corrupt machinations.
That is why we need to be vocal/active, build a consensus and after that insist on performance by our representatives.
“If New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut all allow-same sex marriage in the near future, it will appear that the Northeast is well on its way to becoming a discrimination-free zone. The more marriages that occur, the less anti-gay forces can claim the apocalypse is coming. This can only help matters in California if the Proposition 8 fight is revisited on the ballot.”
More importantly, for those of us in “red states” that already have passed anti-marriage amendments, it is crucial for the long term strategy of having all of these amendments overturned at the federal level to have marriage equality in the the two largest states, NY and CA.
First, a party is not a candidate. It is not monolithic entity. Party leaders can make “commitments,” but anyone with a grain of sense has to understand that these are commitments to do their best. Without the votes of their caucus members, they can do no more.
The author glosses over the fact that the deciding bloc of NY Dem senators apparently represent ethnic constituencies which have grievances against the party very similar to those of the lgbt community. Their constituents are also not friendly, in some cases they’re hostile, to gays and gay rights. And no amount of gay huffing and puffing is going to scare these Senators about losing their seats.
More importantly, there has been one of these famous ‘paradigm shifts’ which you appear not to have noticed. The NY senate situation is a direct and INEVITABLE result of the California debacle (compounded by devastating results in FL,AR and AZ). There are some politicians, Dem and Rep, who claim to be open-minded but harbor a residue of homophobia that’s always looking for an excuse to surface. There are others who are quite genuinely open-minded, but tend to go the way the wind is blowing. What happened in CA (together with FL, AZ and AR) turned the wind against us from coast to coast.
Everyone, from Obama to your city councilor is going to be wary of pushing gay-friendly measures of any sort. And in many states the theofascists are gearing up to try to take back adoption rights, employment and hate crimes protections and other recent lgbt gains.
In the NY Senate situation, ethnic issues and religious prejudices appear to be outweighing party affiliation. It would be nice to think that a couple of Republican senators might opt for decency and equality and counterbalance the recalcitrant Dems. But I’m not holding my breath for our LCR friends to make that announcement.
And I don’t see the advantage pushing for a vote we know we’ll lose. Falling on one’s sword is certainly a romantic concept. But in a world where perception often creates reality, we don’t need to enhance the growing perception that we can’t win ‘democratically’ via the ballot box or legislation and are entirely dependent on judges to shove our rights down the throats (yeah, I know ) of an unfriendly majority of voters and elected reps.
Representatives and Senators must know that LGBTs will not vote for them next election if they don’t deliver on their promises. It isn’t enough for LGBTs to elect a friendly party. We must have the courage and integrity to throw them out when they don’t seriously deliver on our issues. If it’s not that important to us, it won’t be that important to them.