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With joy unbounded
Jun. 27th, 2011 09:04 amNew York has marriage equality. Let there be dancing in the streets (there was, this was Pride Weekend, and the parades were, by all accounts, thrilled with the news).
There will, of course, be talk of backlash, but really, I don't buy it. There are already right-wing types, like Glenn Reynolds trying to claim the credit for it).
So, truth, it couldn't have been done without some Republican support. The four who crossed the aisle were essential, but it only took four (and would have only needed 3 if one of the Dems hadn't voted against it). Right now, sadly, this is something of a Party-line litmus test.
Which is a problem. Massachussetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, DC, are the only places one can get married in the US, if one is looking to marry someone of the same sex. They've not devolved into anarchy.
California was in that club, but outside agitators and a huge campaign stripped rights from an entire class of people (and the Calif. State Supreme Court let us down when it decided doing that was, "a minor change" to the constitution). We will be again. I won't say the floodgates are open, but the end result is pretty much inevitable.
Those four representatives who crossed the aisle, they need to be supported. Send them a card. If you know someone who lives in New York (better if they live in their district) have that friend send a card. This was done with politics, and that matters. It shouldn't be framed as Repub/Dem issue. That won't kill it, but it will delay it, and justice delayed is worse than justice denied.
I've linked to an NYT story, about the how of it. Here are some excerpts.
Persuading Senator Addabbo proved trickier. Same-sex marriage advocates had nicknamed him the Counter, after he told them his vote would hinge entirely on a tally of his constituents who appealed to him for or against the measure. By mid-May, Mr. Addabbo sent word to Mr. Cuomo that the numbers were not there for same-sex marriage.
Until then, members of the same-sex marriage coalition had deliberately refrained from inundating Mr. Addabbo’s office with feedback from supporters of the bill, fearing it might alienate and offend him. But now, the advocates received a message from the governor’s office: Open the floodgates. Brian Ellner, who oversees the marriage push for the Human Rights Campaign, called the head of his field team, who had compiled an exhaustive list of supporters of gay rights in Mr. Addabbo’s district.
“Bury him in paper,” Mr. Ellner said.
When the final count was done... the anti-folks had been swamped... it was 80-20 as a ratio.
Mr. Cuomo was determined to exploit the leadership vacuum by peeling off a few senators from moderate districts.
A major target was James S. Alesi, a Republican from suburban Rochester, who seemed tormented by his 2009 vote. Cameras in the Senate chamber captured him holding his head in his hands as the word “no” left his mouth.
The coalition approached him from every angle. The Republican donors invited him to a meeting on Park Avenue, telling him they would eagerly support him if he backed same-sex marriage. “That’s not the kind of lily pad I normally hop on,” Mr. Alesi recalled.
The advocates collected 5,000 signed postcards from his constituents and nudged a major employer in his district, Xerox, to endorse the bill.
And Mr. Cuomo called him, over and over, to address his objections and allay his fears. He told Senator Alesi that as the first Republican to endorse same-sex marriage, he “would show real courage to the gay community.”
On June 13, aides to the governor left urgent messages with same-sex marriage advocates, who had just left a meeting in Mr. Cuomo’s office, to return there immediately, offering no explanation.
As the group assembled around a conference table, the governor opened the door to his private office and peeked in. “I want to introduce the first Republican to support marriage equality,” he announced.
Mr. Alesi walked into the room, which erupted into applause. In emotional remarks, he apologized to them for what he called his “political vote” against same-sex marriage in 2009.
Those two stories are the lynchpins of how the longer fight will have to be fought, if the victory is to come in good time. Given enough time, the people who are opposed to it will die, and with it the ability to keep it from passing. I don't want to wait.
But people need to speak out, and the political votes, those need to be shown as crass, and craven. We are not a parliamentary system. Anyone in office can vote anyway they please, all they have to worry about is the voters back home. Those voters can convince the people who represent them to vote in accord with their interests.
So, make your interests known. If the people in office refuse to show they are listening to your interests; if the votes they cast against them can't be explained/justified, in a way that makes more than a modicum of sense... vote them out.
There will, of course, be talk of backlash, but really, I don't buy it. There are already right-wing types, like Glenn Reynolds trying to claim the credit for it).
So, truth, it couldn't have been done without some Republican support. The four who crossed the aisle were essential, but it only took four (and would have only needed 3 if one of the Dems hadn't voted against it). Right now, sadly, this is something of a Party-line litmus test.
Which is a problem. Massachussetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, DC, are the only places one can get married in the US, if one is looking to marry someone of the same sex. They've not devolved into anarchy.
California was in that club, but outside agitators and a huge campaign stripped rights from an entire class of people (and the Calif. State Supreme Court let us down when it decided doing that was, "a minor change" to the constitution). We will be again. I won't say the floodgates are open, but the end result is pretty much inevitable.
Those four representatives who crossed the aisle, they need to be supported. Send them a card. If you know someone who lives in New York (better if they live in their district) have that friend send a card. This was done with politics, and that matters. It shouldn't be framed as Repub/Dem issue. That won't kill it, but it will delay it, and justice delayed is worse than justice denied.
I've linked to an NYT story, about the how of it. Here are some excerpts.
Persuading Senator Addabbo proved trickier. Same-sex marriage advocates had nicknamed him the Counter, after he told them his vote would hinge entirely on a tally of his constituents who appealed to him for or against the measure. By mid-May, Mr. Addabbo sent word to Mr. Cuomo that the numbers were not there for same-sex marriage.
Until then, members of the same-sex marriage coalition had deliberately refrained from inundating Mr. Addabbo’s office with feedback from supporters of the bill, fearing it might alienate and offend him. But now, the advocates received a message from the governor’s office: Open the floodgates. Brian Ellner, who oversees the marriage push for the Human Rights Campaign, called the head of his field team, who had compiled an exhaustive list of supporters of gay rights in Mr. Addabbo’s district.
“Bury him in paper,” Mr. Ellner said.
When the final count was done... the anti-folks had been swamped... it was 80-20 as a ratio.
Mr. Cuomo was determined to exploit the leadership vacuum by peeling off a few senators from moderate districts.
A major target was James S. Alesi, a Republican from suburban Rochester, who seemed tormented by his 2009 vote. Cameras in the Senate chamber captured him holding his head in his hands as the word “no” left his mouth.
The coalition approached him from every angle. The Republican donors invited him to a meeting on Park Avenue, telling him they would eagerly support him if he backed same-sex marriage. “That’s not the kind of lily pad I normally hop on,” Mr. Alesi recalled.
The advocates collected 5,000 signed postcards from his constituents and nudged a major employer in his district, Xerox, to endorse the bill.
And Mr. Cuomo called him, over and over, to address his objections and allay his fears. He told Senator Alesi that as the first Republican to endorse same-sex marriage, he “would show real courage to the gay community.”
On June 13, aides to the governor left urgent messages with same-sex marriage advocates, who had just left a meeting in Mr. Cuomo’s office, to return there immediately, offering no explanation.
As the group assembled around a conference table, the governor opened the door to his private office and peeked in. “I want to introduce the first Republican to support marriage equality,” he announced.
Mr. Alesi walked into the room, which erupted into applause. In emotional remarks, he apologized to them for what he called his “political vote” against same-sex marriage in 2009.
Those two stories are the lynchpins of how the longer fight will have to be fought, if the victory is to come in good time. Given enough time, the people who are opposed to it will die, and with it the ability to keep it from passing. I don't want to wait.
But people need to speak out, and the political votes, those need to be shown as crass, and craven. We are not a parliamentary system. Anyone in office can vote anyway they please, all they have to worry about is the voters back home. Those voters can convince the people who represent them to vote in accord with their interests.
So, make your interests known. If the people in office refuse to show they are listening to your interests; if the votes they cast against them can't be explained/justified, in a way that makes more than a modicum of sense... vote them out.
