Prop 8 Was An Unfortunate Accident
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NY Governor David Paterson at a press conference this morning, surrounded by a huge crowd of activists, politicians, and supporters, announced he is introducing a gay marriage bill. Quoting many historical icons and cases, including Daniel Webster, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Fredrick Douglas, and 1857’s Dred Scott decision, as “background” for making civil rights available for all, including gays, Patterson equated the African-American civil rights struggle with the gay rights struggle in this country, and noted, smiling, that we now have an African-American president and two African-American governors.
The Governor called Prop 8 an “unfortunate accident” and noted that at that time New York was “musing about when marriage equality would pass in the Senate, not if it could pass in the Senate,” and described the path of gay marriage in New York as having had “devolving energy.”
The Governor, who himself is sight-impaired, went on to say, “Any disabled person who has been mocked or marginalized understands what we’re talking about here,” and that “Silence should not be a response to injustice, and that if we take no action we will surely lose, maybe we’ve already lost.”
Paterson described lack of marriage equality as “not a crisis of issues but a crisis of leadership,” at which point the governor received over-whelming applause. Paterson was flanked by Senator Tom Duane, Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell, NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Congressman Jose Serrano, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Congressman Jerry Nadler and Congressman Steve Israel, along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Empire State Pride Agenda’s Executive Director Alan Van Capelle, and the American Federation of Teachers’ Randy Weingarten.
Referring to his predescessor, he said, “I’m wondering if I’m in a time warp… the governor introduced the same bill in 2007, so I read today that I’m rushing things? … This to me is an issue for families, not just for walking down the aisle… but for 1300 to 1400 rights that don’t exist unless a couple is married.”
“For too long the gay and lesbian communities have been told that their rights and freedoms have to wait… The time has come to act, the time has come for leadership, the time has come to bring marriage equality to the State of New York.”
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg spoke, saying of the church and state debate, “I don’t think the government should be in the business of telling us who we can and who we can’t marry… and we’re not asking anyone to behave in any way inconsistent with their beliefs.”