The New York state senate on Wednesday voted down a marriage equality bill by a wide margin following months of delay and protracted political drama.
In a special legislative session, the senate voted 38-to-24 against the bill, eight votes short of a majority, with no support from Republican senators. A state assembly marriage bill had passed for a third time late last night.
Governor David Paterson, who made marriage equality a centerpiece of his agenda, issued a statement a few hours after the vote that acknowledged the widespread sense of disappointment among advocates for the bill.
[For the full article, see here.]
New York City is my old stomping grounds! It was progressive forty years ago when I left, and I assume that it's progressive now!
I remember thinking after I left NYC that I didn't leave another state, but I left another country! I didn't appreciate the cosmopolitan nature of NYC when I lived there for 28 years until I left it!
However, other parts of New York State are not that progressive and, although I don't know what political motivations and machinations ensued to make possible this defeat for equal rights, I do know that "hate" was and is the major motivator when religious leaders and politicians seek to deny equal rights to any minority group!
The distortions and down right lies perpetrated about Gay people, not the least of which is that Gay merely equals Sex, has a lot to do with such defeats that occurred in New York.
People are not told that same-sex couples love each other every bit as much as heterosexual couples love each other, and that to deny the same dignity and rights that accrue to heterosexuals to same-sex couples is to deny their love the dignity it deserves, and deny Gay people equality that the Constitution assures us belongs to every citizen in the U.S.
I can't but believe that politicians who want to get re-elected are as much influenced by homophobic clergy who have undeserved but great influence in the larger, secular, society, taking upon themselves the undeserved mantel of being the arbiters of "morality," and thereby sadly convince most of the electorate that being Gay is "immoral," and that same-sex marriage is similarly "immoral."
Hence, the ignorant and/or hatefully based hyperbole that same-sex marriage will destroy the family, hurt children, force schools to teach homosexuality, hurt clergy and churches, etc.
Let's make no mistake! This defeat in New York and other defeats for same-sex marriage that have been suffered is not about the well being of the family, children, or the larger society.
Whenever any politicians or clergy seek to deny equal rights to Gay people, it is about "hate," and about nothing else! And they can couch their hateful animus in unctuous, sanitized, sanctimonious rhetoric all they want to, but the bottom line is that they are ignorant haters, and they must be exposed and confronted for that fact!
And the gullible lemmings who follow their lead are no better; only more pathetic, for they don't get any of the rewards of the hateful clergy and politicians, save for satiating their hateful animus that is primarily fueled and fostered by ignorant and/or mendacious clergy.
In this connection, I want to reiterate what James Hipps of Gay Agenda wrote:
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it now…again, the anti-gay movement in this country is NOT about marriage. It’s NOT about the sanctity of a religious institution. It’s not about protecting anyone or anything, it’s about hate, intolerance and bigotry.
[For the full article, see here.]
2 comments:
Jerry,
It is a mistake to think that progressive politics necessarily includes support for LGBT equality. My community, the African-Americans, is the perfect example. We are very progressive on most social issues, even abortion rights, which my otherwise conservative mother supports. However, the attitudes are set in stone when it comes to anything having to do with Gay or transgender identity. They don't even need a Rev. Donnie McClurkin or Ken Hutcherson to tell them to oppose equality (although there are loads of McClurkins and Hutchersons out there). Compassion for LGBT brethren is something that has nothing to do with politics or ideology; Ted Olson supports marriage equality, after all. It has to do with the basic goodness of a person. My recent experience as a whistleblower has shown me how few basically good people are left in this world. The Seven Deadly Sins have taken over! That's why you and your family are such a treasure.
Thank you so much, Don Charles, for your last sentence. I agree with you regarding "liberals," as to the fact that my experience has shown that most of them are often politically correct, yet aren't to be found when the chips are down and/or they become "liberal fascists" when they perceive that their own ox is being gored or their own prejudices are being violated. I do agree with Frankl that there are two races in the world: the decent and the indecent. Best wishes, Jerry.
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