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发帖数: 4174 | 1 Posted on Advocate.com June 08, 2011 06:50:00 PM ET
Queens United, Almost, for Marriage Equality
By Julie Bolcer
A substantial contingent of elected officials, labor leaders, and other
advocates hosted a press conference Wednesday to show support for marriage
equality in Queens, N.Y., a borough represented by two undecided state
senators key to passage of the legislation.
The event, which brought together federal, state, and local leaders,
signaled the start of the final, intensified push for marriage equality as
the New York legislature prepares to adjourn June 20. With just six calendar
days remaining in the session, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the coalition of LGBT
advocacy groups, New Yorkers United for Marriage, and others are working to
secure the votes of at least six undecided lawmakers in the senate, where
the bill failed in a 24 to 38 vote in 2009.
Two of those senators, Shirley Huntley and Joseph Addabbo, both Democrats
who voted no in 2009 but now take an undeclared position, were the unnamed
but intended audience for many of the more than 20 speakers at Queens
Borough Hall on a sweltering early afternoon in New York City.
“It’s about time that we get back on track, back on being, if not first,
maybe being the strongest in terms of our advocacy for equal justice under
the law,” said Congressman Joseph Crowley. “That’s what this is about.
Equal justice under the law.”
By positioning marriage equality as long overdue in New York, historically
in the forefront of the women’s, labor, and LGBT rights movements, Crowley
echoed arguments made by Cuomo and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Both the governor and mayor have spoken in their advocacy about the state’s
need to live up to its trailblazing reputation.
Since 2008, Crowley has served as chair of the powerful Queens County
Democratic organization, which endorses candidates for office. During his
tenure, the borough has moved from having five of its seven state senators
vote against marriage equality in 2009 to having five senators in support
and two undecided now.
New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, an out lesbian who clinched
her leadership position in 2006 with the backing of the late Queens County
Democratic leader Thomas Manton, noted the rapid change in the
demographically diverse borough.
“When we pass marriage, and I know we will, and I know we will do it with
the vast if not unanimous support of the Queens County delegation in both
parts of our legislature. We will do it because we as New Yorkers believe in
the best of us,” she said.
Quinn, who has made weekly lobbying trips to Albany this year, seemed to
make a personalized appeal to the undecided senators.
“It is hard to say publicly, ‘I made a mistake,’” she said “But it is
the greatest gift you can give as a legislator to say, ‘I learned. I grew.
I expanded.’ And we need to send a message to those legislators that we
will never forget that they did the thing that was harder than just
continuing to vote yes or continuing to vote no, and to those folks we will
be even more grateful.”
Two Queens senators who spoke, Michael Gianaris and Jose Peralta, were
elected in 2010 and replaced two Democrats, George Onorato and Hiram
Monserrate, who had voted against marriage. While Onorato retired,
Monserrate was successfully targeted by gay advocacy groups for his vote, as
was Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican replaced by Tony Avella, a Democrat
who supports marriage equality. With senators Toby Ann Stavisky and Malcolm
Smith in favor, that leaves Huntley and Addabbo as the only unknowns in the
borough's Senate delegation.
“I know that before the end of session, Senator Gianaris and I will push to
make sure that Queens has seven, and it’s going to be a great day to know
that we’re going to be able to pass marriage,” said Peralta. “We may not
have been number 1, we may not have been first, but it’s going to be a
great day.”
In a brief interview, Gianaris spoke with The Advocate about the content of
his pitch to his undecided Queens colleagues.
“I tell them what I see in my district, what I hear from people,” he said.
“What I tell them is, ‘Talk to constituents.’ I believe that the polls
show that the public actually wants this and is ready for this, and they
need to look inside their hearts and do what they believe is right.”
In the next 11 days constituents also will hear from advocates. The press
conference announced a borough-wide canvassing effort to take place over the
next two weekends, with volunteers knocking on doors across Queens. In
addition, next week a series of roundtables on the importance of marriage
equality will be held in Queens, the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and
Rochester, the latter three areas represented by publicly undecided
Republican senators also needed to reach the required 32 votes.
Using some of their most confident tones to date, other speakers including
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and New York City comptroller John Liu
elaborated on the themes of diversity and majority support among state
voters. Still others broached the subject, until now barely discussed in
public, of what victory in New York might signal to the rest of the country
and even the White House.
“I believe in my heart that we are days away from righting this wrong, and
that when New York State acts, it will create tremendous momentum around the
country,” said New York City public advocate Bill DeBlasio. “We know that
we can’t let this inequality stand. It’s time to end it and then take
that struggle forward until every one of the 50 states moves forward as well
.”
Asked by a reporter what he thought a marriage equality win might mean for
President Barack Obama, who supports civil unions, Congressman Crowley said
that given New York’s influence and size, a victory in the third most
populous state “will have a profound impact, I think, on not only our
president, but I think on our country as well, and other states like
California and a couple large states to follow.”
Additional speakers included Queens borough president Helen Marshall, out
City Council members Daniel Drumm and Jimmy Van Bramer, and many more.
One Queens lawmaker notably absent was embattled congressman Anthony Weiner,
who this week confessed to lying when he repeatedly denied he sent a photo
of himself in underwear to a woman on Twitter. A swarm of reporters exited
the conference room at one point to interview departing speakers about his
situation in the hallway, which prompted Crowley to urge people to refocus
their attention on what he called the more important issue at hand, marriage
equality. | g********d
发帖数: 4174 | 2 这一次NY动静很大，也不知道能不能有个好的结果。 |
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