Reflectiions on Dueling Rallies

Yesterday in NYC two rallies took place regarding gay marriage. For more on this I would point you to my husband Kyle's, blog. Kyle+Blog. There you will find more details and links to major news coverage. It is reported that 10,000 Hispanic Evangelicals were bussed in to protest Marriage Equality at the Governor's Office in Manhattan at 1:00 PM. At 5:00 PM a crowd of undetermined size met on 6th Avenue. The latter was a diverse crowd of folks from NYC mostly joined by the Broadway cast of Hair, Cynthia Nixon, Cheyenne Jackson and, most notably, Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg.

Links: New York Daily News, New York Times

My Random Thoughts

Religion

As reported in the New York Times from the 1 PM rally:

The New York Hispanic Clergy Organization, led by Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister, organized the event. In a speech delivered in Spanish, Mr. Díaz warned the governor that there would be political consequences for supporting same-sex marriage.

Senator Díaz serves as a minister in the NY Senate, as _______ did in the US House of Represantatives, that is to say, in no capacity. The issue before the State Senate is not the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. It is CIVIL marriage. A protestor interviewed on NY1 TV said that he "did not represent disicrimination or Homophobia, but the right to religious freedom." This shows exactly how deluded these people are. They actually believe their religious freedom is being challenged. The bill protects that explicitly, although there is no reason for this language. How many times does it have to be said? No one will be forced to marry anyone in a religious setting. Are they afraid that gay couples will flock to their churches? They doing a great job to assure that does not happen.

One of the evangelical crowd was interviewed on NY1 saying, ""They are deciding their votes on what they feel and what they think. But some who claim to be religious are not deciding on what the Book says."

Exactly what they should be doing... if only they all were.


Governor Paterson

Our Governor has nothing to lose. He is polling in the 20's. Unfortunately for many good reasons. Some out of his control (It's the economy) and some that were just horribly handled situations (Senator Clinton's replacement). But this is an opportunity for him to work to build bridges by working publicly behind the scenes.

Mayor Bloomberg

Kyle said it rather glibly, "I'll see your 10,000 screaming Hispanic Evangelicals and raise you one billionaire." Mayor Bloomberg IS going to re-elected. Our forces need to take the best of political advantage with him.

Celebrities

It's great to have them, but... Polling showed that Ellen's ad had little effect in the Prop 8 situation. And we don't have a prop 8 situations. The best we can hope for are ads that change the polling in our favor and get people to write to their Senators. The Pride Agenda Ad currently running does exactly what we learned has to be done from Prop 8 postmortems. Use real people with real stories.

Wrap Up

You know what needs to be done. Write those letters. Talk to your friends. DO IT.