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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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Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’

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March 30, 2023

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Donald Trump’s attorneys were notified Thursday afternoon a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict him on felony charges related to his alleged hush money payoff of a porn star he reported slept with.

The ex-president’ attorney recently said if indicted Trump would travel to New York to turn himself in.

The Office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has just issued a strongly-worded statement saying it is “coordinating” with Trump’s attorneys for his “surrender.”

“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” the statement reads.

READ MORE: ‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

The Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery posted the statement to Twitter.

NBC News explains the process, noting he is expected to be arraigned next week.

“After the indictment, Trump will be arrested and taken into custody. He will likely have a mug shot and fingerprints taken,” NBC reports. “Trump will then appear in court to be arraigned, where he will hear charges and enter a plea. Two sources familiar with the situation told NBC News that the former president is likely to be arraigned next week. Trump will either be jailed or released while pre-trial hearings take place.”

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'INDICTED FOR HIS BEHAVIOR'

‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

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March 30, 2023

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Just past 5:00 PM ET The New York Times broke the news that Donald Trump, the ex-president, had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on felony charges.

It is a historic moment.

Legal experts are weighing in to help guide Americans through an event that has never before happened in this country.

Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman says the fact that this is the first time in U.S. history a president is facing criminal charges is itself a problem.

“I think it would have not been a novel event,” Ackerman said on MSNBC, “if we had done this 49 years ago with Richard Nixon, and he had not been pardoned, this will not be a big event [that] it is today.”

READ MORE: New Poll Sends Trump Damning Message About 2024 if He’s Criminally Indicted

“Everybody should be held accountable,” Ackerman added, citing former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s earlier remarks. Cohen testified repeatedly before the Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump late Thursday afternoon after a three-hour session.

Ackerman lamented that despite over 30 people being indicted during Watergate, “Richard Nixon was pardoned, he wasn’t held accountable.”

“I think this is very important,” Ackerman continued, “establishing a principle, a line in the sand, that even if you’re the President of the United States, and you commit a crime, you can’t stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and just shoot somebody.”

Ackerman was referring to Trump’s infamous comments during the 2016 election, when he bragged he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

Attorney and civil rights activist Maya Wiley, also on MSNBC, said, “It’s important and sobering that we had somebody who had the highest office of this country who has now ben indicted for his behavior, his acts, in order to win that office, but also faces what are more shoes that will drop, I believe.”

“It is a sobering moment for this country, that we are witnessing this happened to somebody who was entrusted with such power who has now had a jury of his peers, because that is what a grand jury also is, say we believe he had to face the music.”

READ MORE: Here’s How Five Republicans in Congress Are Responding to the Mass Shooting of 3 Children and 3 Adults in Nashville (Video)

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, now a professor of law, called this a “moment where we would do well to seriously assess who we are as Americans and who we are not as Americans, because we re all so familiar with Donald Trump’s tactics.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

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Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury on Felony Charges: NYT

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March 30, 2023

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Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury investigating his role in a hush money payoff scheme that allegedly was designed to aid his election chances in 2016, according to multiple news reports.

“Mr. Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges. The precise charges are not yet known, but the case is focused on a hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign,” The New York Times was first to report. “The unprecedented case against Trump will have wide-ranging implications.”

CNN, citing sources, also reports Trump has been indicted.

Trump’s attorney, Susan Necheles, confirms to CBS News’ Graham Kates that the ex-president has been indicted.

NEW –
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’
‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

This is a breaking news and developing story.

Image via Shutterstock

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