NY Republican Votes For Marriage Equality And Battles For Reelection

Today's TIMES has an interesting story about a Republican state senator Roy Mcdonald who was one the key four votes in passing marriage equality in New York state last summer.  Now, he's up for reelection and his opponent is making his vote the number one issue in his reelection.  The question is, in economic hard times, will voters even care?  What I find even more interesting is that his opponent concedes that there is no way the state's law can be reversed or re-voted on either.  So it's a true case of water under the bridge but she has been relentless in her attacks on her opponent. And, obviously, the advent of gays getting married in the state has not brought about the apocalypse or the collapse of society so it seems like she doesn't have much of a case really.

Let's hope that the votes upstate can see this tactic for what it is...a desperate measure by a fringe candidate to get some attention. Roy Mcdonald won a lot of gay fans (and financial support for his campaign) with his common sense approach to an issue that all too often becomes conflated with things that are entirely irrelevant to it (i.e. the "threat" to "traditional" marriage).  I particularly love his quote in the article today below. I think we could really use more wise men, Republicans or Democrats, like Mr. Mcdonald serving in government today.

“I’m in the party of Abraham Lincoln — I’m very proud of that,” he said. “I’m not in a party of a bunch of right-wing nitwits. It’s Abraham Lincoln. It’s everybody’s included. And I feel that’s very important.”

The Shocking Truth About Gay Marriage

After much debate and delay, the adult day-care center up in Albany that's also known as the New York State Senate, voted against gay marriage last week. Shocker. Much like the Democrats on Capitol Hill, these legislators can't even agree who their leader is so it's no surprise they couldn't somehow get it together take a stand on the major civil rights issue of our era.

After defeats in California last year and Maine this year, the quest for marriage equality seems troubled lately. So the New York TIMES this weekend decided the movement needed a little pick me up. The TIMES, which has been running gay wedding annoucements for 7 years now, did a lovely feature in the Style section about a couple of guys who'd been together nearly 20 years and finally tied the knot, with their 7 year old son in attendance. The story is touching and sweet and, most strikingly, kinda ordinary. They are just a couple of nice Jewish guys trying to raise their son in a place that doesn't legislate hate (i.e. Connecticut). What's not to like?

What this article shows simply and beautifully is the truth about gay marriage....which is that there's nothing that shocking about it at all. What's shocking are the claims by right wingnuts that this will somehow lead to people marrying their pets or kids being taught gay sex in the first grade. Huh? Of course, these are the only arguments they can make because there's nothing to terrible or scary or immoral about two professional guys, living with their mother even, who love each other so much they decided they wanted to raise a kid.

This week, New Jersey's state legislators may consider a marriage bill. Politicans can speechify all they want about their "personal moral dilemnas" but really, when it comes down to it, I would honestly like to know how they can vote against something as beautiful as this? The picture above says it all.