NY Democratic Senator: “We Are United” With NOM

New York State Senator and Reverend Rubén Díaz, a shill for NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, for years, today on his New York Senate website published a press release stating “We Are United” with NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, over the fight against same-sex marriage.

Diaz, the 68-year old Democrat who is “an ordained minister of the Church of God, whose headquarters are located in Cleveland, Tennessee, and describes itself as evangelical and pentecostal,” had no qualms offering to officiate at the wedding of convicted felon Hiram Monserrate, a former New York State Senator arrested for dragging his girlfriend by her hair through his apartment lobby after reportedly slashing her face with a broken glass.

Last year, Diaz stood idly by at a NOM anti-gay marriage hate rally while a fellow preacher said, in Spanish, that gays are worthy of death. Diaz did not interrupt nor did he comment or condemn the statement made literally a few feet from him, in front of hundreds.

“Brian Brown and NOM have done something, that no one has been able to do before: they have helped Black and Hispanic people throughout the nation to find our voice when everyone else rejected us and excluded us from the debate,” Diaz’s press release today, reprinted in full below, states, railing against a New York Times editorial that suggests the recently unsealed memos from NOM refute their designation as a “social welfare organization” and suggest NOM is committing fraud.

One month after New York Governor Cuomo signed his same-sex civil marriage equality bill into law, Senator Díaz proclaimed,  “Today we start the war” against same-sex married couples. Clearly, this is a man who does not represent all his constituents, and seems to abuse the privileges of his office.

“You should know that NOM has not divided us, it has brought us unity; NOM has given a voice to the voiceless on the marriage issue, and shown us respect for our core, and sacred values on marriage—a respect the mainstream media has consistently denied us,” Diaz states. He ends with, “I am Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.”

What New Yorkers and all American really should know is that forces are converging against NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, and it is my personal prediction, after reading this lengthy article from the Southern Poverty Law Center, that NOM will next year be placed on its list of active anti-gay hate groups.

Unless, of course, they change.

 

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WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

 

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz

 

32nd Senatorial District, Bronx County, New York

 

Tel. 718-991-3161

 

 

 

We Are United

 

You should know that like many Black and Hispanic members of the clergy in New York and throughout the United States, I am exceptionally grateful for the National Organization for Marriage, and for NOM’s President, Brian Brown.

 

I write this as a Democrat, as a State Senator and as the President of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization, which represents tens of thousands of Hispanic and Black Christians.

 

On behalf of all those churches, I am here to say: I have worked closely with the National Organization for Marriage and I have marched with NOM’s President Brian Brown to defend our civil right to be heard in the debate over the meaning of marriage.

 

Brian Brown and NOM have done something, that no one has been able to do before: they have helped Black and Hispanic people throughout the nation to find our voice when everyone else rejected us and excluded us from the debate.

 

You should know that NOM has not divided us, it has brought us unity; NOM has given a voice to the voiceless on the marriage issue, and shown us respect for our core, and sacred values on marriage—a respect the mainstream media has consistently denied us.

 

No New York Times editorial, nor anyone else will be able to sow seeds of dissension between us and NOM in this great effort to protect marriage.

 

You should know that we will continue to our work with Brian Brown and NOM, and we will continue to praise the Lord for the courageous people He has led into our lives.

 

I am Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.

Hat tip: Towleroad