| Liz is reporting today that the chances of a vote taking place on marriage equality aren't looking good, but that isn't stopping advocates from fighting for one anyway.
The Empire State Pride Agenda is hoping that a vote takes place. Executive Director Alan Van Capelle issued this statement in support of a vote on marriage equality:
Today, as the State Senate goes back into session, we expect that the marriage equality bill will get the overdue, respectful debate that we've been waiting for since June.
Our community has spent the past few years making the case to 62 State Senators for why we should be treated equally by the laws of our state. The time for making cases is over. We've heard dozens of excuses and we've been told countless times that we'll have to wait for equality. We've been told before that the time isn't right to end discrimination against tens of thousands of families. The excuses and the waiting must end today.
Hundreds of LGBT New Yorkers will be coming to Albany today to hear their lives debated on the Senate floor. New York State Senators will now need to do the right thing and debate this human rights bill and vote to treat these families-and the millions of others that cannot be here-like all other New York families.
To not bring this bill to the floor for a debate would be a slap in the face to every LGBT New Yorker. We have waited far too long for the basic respect of a vote from our elected State Senators on an issue that affects our daily lives and the lives of our loved ones.
This vote will be a vote of conscience for all Democrat and Republican Senators. There is no room for politics in a human rights issue like this. When this bill passes, it will be bipartisan. This is a deeply personal issue for Senators because they know that they will have to go back home to their sons and daughters, their nieces and nephews, their friends and neighbors and explain how they voted on this bill.
ESPA has an action alert they are sending around to rally those in Albany to head to the state capital and support marriage equality and tell leaders there that a vote should take place today in the New York State Senate.
Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. has been loud in his opposition to a vote on marriage equality. That, of course, is not very democratic. The chances of marriage equality passing are slim, but even that slim chance has Diaz worried. That is a good thing. If Diaz is scared, we must be close.
It is my hope that a vote takes place today. Even if it is voted down, we know who is on the side of marriage equality and who is against it. That's what we need to know. We need to know who is willing to stand for equal rights and who isn't. |
