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New York Assembly Says “Yes” To Gay Marriage: 89 To 52

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Quotes Of Assembly
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Four weeks after Governor Paterson announced plans to introduce a gay marriage bill in New York, it passed its first vote today. Since that day, when the governor called his state’s lack of gay marriage a “crisis of leadership,” many factions have weighed in. On one side, State Senator Ruben Diaz, who called for the governor’s resignation, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who promised an “active and present” battle. On the other side, several thousand activists who flooded the state capitol to support gay rights, many secular and sectarian groups, and the New York State populace itself, which is in support of the bill by a 53% to 39% margin.

The outcome of the gay marriage decision in New York is particularly important, as New York is the third most-populous state in the nation, and one of the most visible around the world.

Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell, who was widely credited with securing passage of the bill two years ago, is similarly credited today. Profiled on the front page of today’s New York Times, O’Donnell is portrayed as, “a tenacious, ingratiating, playful and sometimes prickly leader of the effort to pass the legislation.”

The next step for the bill is a vote in the Senate, which is far less likely to pass the bill. No vote date is set yet.

Some memorable statements from the Assembly:

Don Hikind: It makes me very happy to say that my position is the same as the president’s, that he is against gay marriage. […] My God says I can’t do this.

Joel Miller: I hope that I will be the first of many Republicans who stand and say I support this bill. Throughout the animal kingdom we see homosexual behavior. There was never an advantage to be gay. It’s not gay to be gay. No one knows the size of the gay community, but it includes our family… We all remember when clearly the earth was flat, the sun revolved around the earth, it had to be that way because religion told us.

Religion is just not supposed to tell government what to do. We look at what’s going on in Islamic countries and say that belongs in the 14th century, it’s got to stop. It’s got to stop here. Religion has been the cause of more death and hatred and suffering than any thing else.

This is America, there is no room for discrimination of any kind.

Joseph Lentol: What God wants me to do in my life and in politics is to try to treat everyone equally. The principle is, shall we treat everyone equally? (We say,) ‘We’re going to give you civil unions, that’s just like equal!’ Just have your civil union and it’ll be fine.’ It’s not fine. Tonight, I vote for “love one another.”

Deborah Glick: The history of marriage has been about property, alliances between powerful families, and ensuring where the property should go, and most assuredly about the subjugation of women. The notion that this is some major departure from eons of understanding is not exactly the way it is.

What we are dealing with here is the notion of the majority’s sense of being comfortable.

I have been a member of this house for 19 years, and I don’t have the same rights as you two. Am I supposed to be concerned about your level of comfort?

We are not new on the face of the earth. Every fight for civil rights in this country has moved in a certain trajectory. Those who have said that my civil rights should be held to a public plebiscite, that is not what the constitution is about.

Mark Weprin: So much of discrimination is based on ignorance. The march of history is coming.

Patricia Eddington: This is the last bastion of hateful oppression.

Perhaps one of the the most heart-felt speeches came from Frank Skartados, who represents the Poughkeepsie area of the state:

I was the last person to come into this chambers, and probably the first one to go. But I like it here. I recognize the possibilities that we can do something positive for our community, and the state of New York. I come from a district that is very much divided between two different communities. The liberal, inner-cities, and the conservative suburbs. Very much divided. But on this issue, they are very much united. They do not want me to vote for this legislation, but I will do so. I will do so because it is the right thing to do. Not in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of a man, a humble man, like me. So, even though I may be one-term assemblymen, I’m willing to take that chance. Because it is the right thing to do. In the words of Nelson Mandela, there comes a time when the world is called upon to be great. So, ladies and gentlemen, let your greatness shine and vote for this bill.

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WHICH ONE IS THE DEMOCRAT?

‘You’re Doing It Exactly the Wrong Way’: Chris Wallace Shreds Joe Manchin for Enabling GOP ‘Obstruction’

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June 6, 2021

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Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday challenged Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who is refusing to support filibuster reform to pass a voting rights bill and other progressive initiatives.

“You said you oppose scrapping the filibuster,” Wallace noted. “The question I have is whether or not — and you say that you hope that will bring the parties together — the question I have is whether or not you’re doing it exactly the wrong way?”

“Hear me out on this,” the Fox News host continued. “If you were to keep the idea that maybe you would vote to kill the filibuster, wouldn’t that give Republicans an incentive to actually negotiate because old Joe Manchin is out there and who knows what he’s going to do? By taking it off the table, haven’t you empowered Republicans to be obstructionists?”

“I don’t think so,” Manchin said cautiously. “Because we have seven brave Republicans that continue to vote for what they know is right and the facts as they see them, not worrying about the political consequences.”

The West Virginia senator insisted that many of his “Republican friends” agree with him.

“I’m just very hopeful and I see good signs,” Manchin said. “Give us some time.”

Wallace interrupted to point out that Republicans had recently used the filibuster to kill a commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Republicans blocked that,” Wallace reminded the senator. “Sen. McConnell, the head of the Republicans in the Senate, says that he’s 100% focused on blocking the Biden agenda. Question: Aren’t you being naive about this continuing talk about bipartisan cooperation?”

“I’m not being naive,” Manchin objected. “I think he’s 100% wrong in trying to block all the good things that we’re trying to do for America. It would be a lot better if we had participation and we’re getting participation.”

“I’m going to continue to keep working with my bipartisan friends,” he added. “There were 33 Democrats in 2017 that signed a letter to please save the filibuster and save our democracy. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Watch the video below.

 

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VOTER SUPPRESSION

Texas Attorney General Admits Trump Would Have Lost the State in 2020 if He Hadn’t Blocked Mail-In Voting

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June 5, 2021

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Steve Bannon that Donald Trump would have lost the Lone Star State in the 2020 presidential election if Texans had been allowed to vote by mail.

“Yeah, I think it’s certainly critical to my state and that’s why we fought off these twelve lawsuits,” Paxton said. “We had them in Houston, we had them in San Antonio, we had them in Austin — we had them in the counties where you have the most liberal judges. And it was a concerted effort, nationally, with lots of money going into it.”

“And just knowing that we had twelve lawsuits that we had to win. And if we had lost one of them, if we’d lost Harris County — Trump won by 620,000 votes in Texas. Harris County mail-in ballots that they wanted to send out were 2.5 million, those were all illegal and we were able to stop every one of them,” he explained.

“Had we not done that, we would have been in the very same situation — we would’ve been on election day, I was watching on election night and I knew, when I saw what was happening in these other states, that that would’ve been Texas. We would’ve been in the same boat. We would’ve been one of those battleground states that they were counting votes in Harris County for three days and Donald Trump would’ve lost the election,” Paxton said.

Image via Ken Paxton/Facebook
 

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LITMUS TEST

Leery North Carolina Republicans Worried Trump’s Saturday Speech Will Turn Off More Voters

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June 5, 2021

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Donald Trump’s Saturday night speech in Greenville, North Carolina, has some Republicans in the state on edge over fears the unpredictable ex-president will make their jobs harder in a state that can no longer be counted upon as a Republican stronghold.

With a key U.S. Senate seat open — and questions about whether Trump will endorse his daughter-in-law Lara Trump — there are concerns some of his endorsements will be the kiss of death when it comes to appealing to independent voters who have overwhelmingly abandoned him.

According to a report from the Fay Observer, one political scientist said Trump’s visit will be a litmus test demonstrating how popular he remains.

Explained Chris Cooper at Western Carolina University, “Obviously this was a swing state that he won. So if he wants to remind people that he can win in divided America, there’s no better example than North Carolina.”

State Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley added, “We invited him. With North Carolina having been a true battleground state in 2016 and 2020, … and the fact that we delivered for him in both elections, you know, was really important,” before admitting he expects another fight at the ballot boxes on 2022.

However, according to longtime GOP political consultant Carter Wrenn, Trump’s visit could come at a cost.

“In 2020, you had a group of swing voters at the end who disliked both Trump and Biden, and so that helped Trump win North Carolina,” Wrenn explained. “But the fact is, you’ve still got two-thirds of independents who dislike Trump. … His endorsing a candidate in a general election, it’s gonna hurt with those swing voters, and that’s who you have to have to win the election. So I think, I think there’s some problems with it. Yeah.”

You can read more here.

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