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发帖数: 4174 | 1 Posted on Advocate.com June 21, 2011 03:25:00 PM ET
New Yorkers United for Marriage Equality at Rally
By Julie Bolcer
NEW YORK State assemblymembers 20110621 X390 (JULIE BOLCER) | ADVOCATE.COM
New Yorkers from as far away as Buffalo and New York City traveled to the
state capitol in Albany on Tuesday to rally for an immediate vote on the
marriage equality bill, which remained one vote shy of passage in the senate
as lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared to be making progress in
negotiations by the early afternoon.
A few hundred people attended the Rally for Love and Marriage at West
Capitol Park announced on Monday by New Yorkers United for Marriage, the
bipartisan coalition of five LGBT organizations working to pass the marriage
equality bill. Holding signs and signing folk songs, they joined elected
officials, community advocates, organized labor, and faith leaders in
calling for the senate to take a vote before the legislative session,
already in overtime, comes to a close.
Speakers at the rally included Jim Alesi, the first Republican senator to
announce last week that he would join 29 senate Democrats in voting for the
marriage equality bill. He received shouts of “Thank you Jim!” from the
crowd, which he said contained many “new friends.”
"I am Jim Alesi. I am a Republican. I was born that way," said the Rochester
-area lawmaker, in a confident display of his familiarity with Gaga-esque
lingo. He called the potential marriage equality vote the most important of
his 20-year career and noted the change from 2009, when the bill failed in
the state senate with no Republican support and he, thought to be a
potential yes vote at the front of the roll call, instead cast an “
anguished” vote against it.
“I no longer have anguish. My vote will be yes,” said Alesi. “And my name
begins with A. I am the first Republican vote to be cast in the New York
state senate and I am proud to be a Republican. I will also be proud to be
the first Republican voter to vote for marriage equality in this state, to
lead off what I hope will be a succession of more than just enough votes,”
he said.
Currently, 31 senators, including Alesi and another Republican, Roy McDonald
of the Capital Region, support the bill that needs 32 votes to pass.
McDonald did not attend the rally, but he has launched an equality-themed
Facebook page with nearly 12,000 “likes.”
Whether or the Republican-controlled senate will bring the bill to the floor
for a vote depends in large part on the resolution of other business
between the legislature and Gov. Cuomo including rent regulations and a
property tax cap. Those items appeared to be closer to a deal on Tuesday
afternoon and sparked hopeful comments from senate majority leader Dean
Skelos that the session may conclude on Wednesday.
No agreement has been reached yet on the marriage equality bill, where the
Republican conference is negotiating broader but unspecified religious
exemptions with the Cuomo administration. The bill passed the assembly last
week with exemptions for religious organizations that refuse to solemnize
same-sex weddings or allow their facilities to be used for the events. Any
additional exemptions language would be presented in chapter amendments that
the senate Republicans would consider with the bill, and the chapter
amendments would also need approval by the Democratic-controlled assembly.
Other elected officials sounded confident of a successful vote this week,
with Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell, the openly gay sponsor of the measure
in his chamber, saying, “The wind of equality is blowing through Albany.”
O’Donnell appeared at the rally with openly gay Democratic assembly members
Deborah Glick, Harry Bronson and Matthew Titone, in addition to Janet
Duprey and Teresa Sayward, two upstate Republicans who also sponsored the
bill.
“We're not leaving Albany until we have a marriage equality bill,” said
Sayward, who told the crowd about her gay son and his family, which includes
a young man rescued from the streets of Cleveland who recently graduated
college with an engineering degree.
While lawmakers and Gov. Cuomo negotiate the religious exemptions and close
other deals to unclog the legislative pipeline, speakers urged the rally
attendees to continue to contact their lawmakers and ask for an immediate
vote on the marriage equality bill.
"It's never been an if. It's that we need the when to be now," said Senator
Thomas K. Duane, the openly gay sponsor of marriage equality legislation in
the senate. "You've got to keep making calls,” he said.
Phonebanking for marriage equality is scheduled to continue on Tuesday
evening at 1199 SEIU headquarters in Midtown Manhattan with a visit from out
lesbian New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In addition, the
Human Rights Campaign announced the 51st and final video of its New Yorkers
for Marriage Equality series, which offers a compilation of the previous 50
videos that have received more than one million views. | D**S
发帖数: 24887 | | m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 3 Applause!!
"I am Jim Alesi. I am a Republican. I was born that way," | D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 4 That Way.......
Just remind me of one of my favorite BSB songs: I Want It That Way.
But it is just a coincidence. I do not think BSB meant "That" way, although
it is widely rumored that BSBs are indeed "That" way. hahaha.
【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: Applause!!
: "I am Jim Alesi. I am a Republican. I was born that way,"
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