Of all places--New York! I thought their lawmakers were more sophisticated and open minded. I was stunned that the gay marriage bill had failed. According to the Associated Press, Gov. David Patterson, described the defeat as one of the saddest days in his 20 years of public service. He claimed senators who actually supported the bill "didn't have the intestinal fortitude to vote for it."
"I wasn't expecting betrayal," said an angry and disappointed Sen. Thomas Duane, the openly gay Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the bill.
Sen. Eric Adams, a Democrat from Brooklyn asked the group to set aside their religious beliefs and vote for the bill. "When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out," he said.
Enter the bible thumpers--led by Sen. Ruben Diaz, a Republican and a conservative minister from the Bronx, who stated, "You should carry your Bible all the time."
In spite of supporters with personal interest in the measure and comparisons to racism and the holocaust, the bill failed to pass by 8 votes--a huge letdown for the gay community and supporters of gay marriage. We were counting on New York!
The only thing that made me feel better was remembering what happened on a street corner near Syracuse University campus a few weeks earlier. A woman dressed in an ankle-length corduroy skirt stood holding a sign that read "Homosexuality is sin. Christ can set you free!" When a student saw her hateful sign he got an idea that would hopefully make her feel as uncomfortable as she had made him feel. A few minutes later, he was back standing beside her with a big sign that read "Corduroy skirts are a sin." (The photos are all over the internet. Just google corduroy skirts are a sin to see the photos and read the dialogue.) That puts it into perspective for me. We need a social movement like "Mothers for Gay Marriage--nothing political, governmental or religious--in order for same-sex marriage to be approved!
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