Rallies grow as NY weighs gay marriage vote
Protesters for and against the same-sex marriage bill protest in the halls at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., Monday, June 20, 2011. / AP Photo/Hans Pennink
Updated at 4:13 p.m. ET
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ALBANY, N.Y. - Hundreds of protesters for and against gay marriage in New York chanted, sang and sought out TV cameras Monday while the state Senate again came to no resolution on the issue in a closed-door session that barely touched on the nationally divisive topic.
Two Republican senators said the gay marriage issue that has sharply focused the efforts of opponents and advocates was only briefly discussed in the caucus. Instead, Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos is negotiating with Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on religious exemptions that could be enough for Republican senators — most of whom oppose gay marriage — to send the issue to a floor where a bipartisan effort could pass it.
Democratic Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., a Bronx minister who has led the opposition, said he now considers the legalization of same-sex marriage inevitable at some point in New York. He said, however, he's unsure how the Senate will vote, noting Cuomo is exerting unprecedented pressure to get Republicans to approve his bill.
On Monday, groups led by clergy opposed to same-sex marriage sang hymns such as "Victory is Mine" and prayed in small circles while pro-same-sex marriage advocates countered with "God Bless America" and "This Little Light of Mine" and lined the halls and parlor outside the Senate chamber.
State troopers were called to the Senate chamber floor as the two groups started to merge and talk with each other, but there was no escalation in the jammed marble hallways that turned stifling hot from the people and TV cameras. Most were respectful of each other and kept to their own groups.
"This is not about religion, this is about civil rights," Sharon Baum of New York City said.
She was soon confronted by a woman opposed to gay marriage.
"If this passes, we will become Sodom and Gomorrah," said 80-year-old Ginny Winn, of Delmar in Albany County.
"God says 'No'!" chanted one side, as pro-gay marriage advocates, led by their clergy, intoned, "God is love!"
When Winn, a great-grandmother, interrupted Baum and said she's been married for decades. Baum offered a sincere "Mazel tov!" which is Hebrew for congratulations.
The gay marriage bill is now part of the usual horse-trading of issues behind closed doors that is common at the close of session for the New York Legislature. That means the emotional issue is tied to such common, but important measures as continuing New York City's rent control law and a statewide property tax cap, said the senators who spoke on the condition of anonymity because there was no official statement from the Republican majority.
Susan Lerner of the good-government group Common Cause said the level of professional and grass roots lobbying appears unmatched in New York since the abortion and reproductive rights battles of the 1970s.
New York's vote is pivotal in the national question over same-sex marriage, an effort that largely stalled in the same room two years ago when the Senate voted it down. Since then, efforts have failed in New Jersey, Rhode Island and Maryland. Advocates hope a "yes" vote in the nation's third-most populous state jumpstarts the effort.
Same-sex couples can legally marry in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
The Rev. William Mayhew of Millerton said children aren't given the support they need in a gay household.
"They are creating another category of civil rights," Mayhew said. "American will suffer!"
Former New York Giants player David Tyree was among the celebrities on both sides of the issue. He said in Albany on Monday that God may have given him the ability to make his stunning, one-handed catch to help the Giants win the Super Bowl in 2007 so he would have a platform to oppose gay marriage today.
"I am not a political person, but gay marriage isn't a political issue," he said. "This not about right and left, but about right and wrong."
He said he opposes gay measure as a threat to children and families.
The Assembly has already passed the measure.
The legislative session was supposed to end Monday, but the negotiations are expected to keep the Legislature in Albany through much of the week.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan addressed the same-sex marriage issue at Father's Day mass Sunday, CBS New York reports.
"I know we're sort of the David here, up against a Goliath, but we're not going to give up. That's what this request for prayers was all about," Dolan said.
Dolan again stated the belief of the Catholic Church that marriage is defined by a union between a man and a woman.
"Any presumption to redefine that sacred vocabulary, I'm afraid, is at our common peril," Dolan said.
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Romans 18...The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and
wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,Romans 19 since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. Romans 20 For since the creation
of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been
clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but
their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed
to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images
made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Romans 24...Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for
the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised.
Amen.
Romans 26...Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones.Romans 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural
relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent
acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he
gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. Romans 29...They have become
filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and
boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless,
faithless, heartless, ruthless.Romans..32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who
do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also
approve of those who practice them.
The homosexual issue is much like the search for the "cure" for cancer. The entire "gay" rights movement needs to viewed in a different light than it is presented. Like cancer there are many faces and kinds. There is no one fix for either, that is until science finds the key as to why this deviation occurs. Until that time homosexuality should be treated with the same respect show then cancer patient or the person with Downs. We need to show them the type of compassion and support we would expect if this was our plight. The "Gay" community should come to grips with the 5 steps of grief and not try to claim it as "coming out", but for what it is. Most people are not "anti-gay" as it is thrown about, they are however "anti-in-your-face". The vast majority of thinking people on this planet understand that all persons should be treated kindly and fairly, but that dictates that all people act that way and not like spoiled children when they dont get their way. The world, now over 1/3 Muslim will not be as kind as the Soviets to "Gay Rights" nor will the PRC. I have no doubt that one day soon or many years from now, the "Gay" issue will be spoken of in lectures along with Alzheimer's, Tay Sachs, Cancer's and other genetic anomalies and how they were overcome. Until then let us all fight for the dignity of those who are the victim of these cruel twists of nature.
Nature is what you see exist in this life, without the creations of God, there will not be Black, White, Asian, Middle East, Native Indian, straight, gay and azzhole like you ! =))
FOCUS ON THE EVIDENCE!
Reasons 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in the online article "Is Cuomo Ignoring the Evidence Against Gay Marriage?" ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/54881192/Is-Cuomo-Ignoring-the-Evidence-Against-Gay-Marriage-Updated ) illustrates that Washington, Rochester, New York ... and America ... would in fact have to spend UNTOLD BILLIONS in later years to correct the consequences of institutionalizing a personally destructive behavior through "marriage" or otherwise!
Focus on the evidence!
Stop oppressing real families.
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The First Amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...."
This is just another form of history repeating... Do you not remember Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States; the only difference is now the government is bulling and discrimination against gays and lesbians; not blacks, all based on a religious belief, which is a violation of our rights!!
Do the right thing and allow us our pursuit to happiness! Do you want the same hatred many African Americans harbor toward the government to also be taught to the younger generations of the GLBT in this country? We are also Americans and are supposed to be guaranteed freedom of religion and by denying us equality you are denying us these freedoms and violating the rights of many American citizens, as well as the oath you took as a public servant!
Besides what business is it of the government who someone loves?
I guess Iowa, Massachusetts and the other states which legalized same sex marriage are falling apart, especially Washington DC, our nation's capital is totally out of the map just because they legalized same sex marriage ? wow ! wow ! wow !