NJ Jews ♡ Marriage Equality, But What About Brooklyn Jews?
The NY-NJ metro area same-sex marriage debate (debacle?) has gotten folks looking at all sorts of demographics, trying to gain a win for their side. Today, I quoted a Rutgers University poll that not only found 48% of Catholics in the Garden State support marriage equality, but found that 56% of New Jersey Jews support same-sex marriage.
So, it’s a bit surprising to read in today’s Daily News, Elizabeth Benjamin (who has done an excellent job covering the NY same-sex marriage issue) writing, in “Why You Can’t Beat Carl Kruger,”
“Sen. Carl Kruger [whom she calls “a conservative Brooklyn Democrat,”]Â may have sparked the anger of the LGBT community with his “no” vote on the same-sex marriage bill, in the eyes of a prominent Orthodox Jewish community he is a “true friend” and “hero.”
“Sen. Kruger Stands Up for Yeshivos, Marriage” reads the front page headline in today’s edition of Hamodia, the Orthodox Jewish newspaper.”
I’m not doubting her reporting, just finding large sways in demographics across such a narrow geographic slice of America to be interesting. And of course, I’m not suggesting the majority of NY Jews don’t support marriage equality.
She ends with,
“Nevertheless, Kruger has draw the ire of some gay advocates, two of whom – Allen Roskoff and Corey Johnson – tried to recruit Councilman Lew Fidler to primary Kruger next fall.
Fidler refused, telling me: “In my neighborhood, you don’t run against Carl Kruger on gay marriage. It’s just not a winner.”
Kruger told Hamodia he considers the Orthodox Jewish community a “bedrock” part of his district, adding:
“When it becomes an emotional, gut-wrenching issue, when it cuts through the fabric of traditions and values, then I have my community as the cornerstone of my decision.”
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