New York City Council Speaker Quinn less optimistic about gay marriage
(New York) Though she has not accepted defeat, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was less optimistic when talking about the future of marriage equality the state of New York. Quinn made her remarks in response to the recent upheaval in the New York state senate at the city …
Whose Holocaust? Plan to Recognize Gay Victims at Memorial Sparks Row
A plan to memorialize gay male victims of Nazism amid a collection of memorial stones for Holocaust victims in a quiet half-acre patch of Brooklyn has provoked an outcry.
New York State Assembly Member Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat whose many Orthodox constituents include numerous Holocaust survivors, has decried the planned addition as a distortion of the Holocaust’s meaning with regard to Jews.
“It’s easy to say, let’s include everybody, let’s be universal, diversity is great,” he said. But he added, “It just isn’t fair. It diminishes and really dilutes what the Holocaust is.”
Hikind and the Holocaust Memorial Committee, steward of the tiny Holocaust Memorial Park in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, are calling for the park’s memorial stones to be restricted to Jewish victims of Hitler. But the plan, approved by the city’s parks department, to commemorate non-Jewish victims of the Nazi regime there is proceeding thus far.
On June 9, representatives of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Children of Holocaust Survivors, which proposed the addition, could be found combing the bayside memorial to measure unmarked stone pillars and determine if memorial text could be carved on them, association co-chair Rick Landman said.
The altercation raises a question that Jews have faced with increasing frequency: Whose Holocaust is it, anyway? Roma Gypsies, the disabled and gay men were among those also especially targeted by the Nazis. According to historians, though, only Jews and Roma were targeted for annihilation. Altogether, the Nazis are estimated to have murdered some 11 million from their coming to power in 1933 until their downfall in 1945.
Flanked by Emmons Avenue and Shore Boulevard, at the easternmost end of Sheepshead Bay, the memorial, built in 1997, consists of a tall eternal flame sculpture — engraved with a short statement on the Holocaust and the nations affected by the genocide — surrounded by two adjacent gardens of stone markers, each of which features either a paragraph or two of history or a list of victims’ names.
For $360 per engraved line, donors to the non-profit Holocaust Memorial Committee can pay to have a victim’s name printed on one of the stone markers. The registration form for this service, found on the committee’s Web site, asks donors to provide the victim’s name and a brief history of his or her Holocaust experience. The committee then meets to verify the authenticity of the proposed inscription, committee treasurer and past president Alfred Gollomp said.
Gollomp complained that in signing on to the IALGCHS proposal, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the city’s parks department were ignoring a memorandum that gives the Brooklyn-based group control over the park markers.
See Whose Holocaust? Plan to Recognize Gay Victims at Memorial Sparks Row
Forward
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Vanasco: Uproar in NY Senate – gay marriage gone?
The New York Times is reporting that the Democrats have suddenly – and unexpectedly – lost control of the NYS Senate after two Democrats defected.
This comes after gay marriage advocates were fairly confidently predicting that New York State would have gay marriage by Pride. The State Assembly has already voted …
New Yorkers divided on gay marriage
(New York City) A new poll has found New York State voters evenly divided over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
The Siena College poll found 46 percent of those surveyed support gay marriage, while 46 percent were opposed.
The survey was taken between May 18 and 21 and involved …
LI: Battleground for gay marriage
he state Assembly approved a gay marriage bill by a fairly comfortable 89-52 margin, but the odds of passage remain much longer in the state Senate.
Fivethirtyeight.com, a national political Web site that uncannily picked primary and the presidential election result last year, breaks down the chances of gay marriage making it through New York. Their take? It won’t be easy unless Long Island’s state Senators overwhelmingly vote in favor of it.
According to fivethirtyeight.com, 20 state Senators are in favor, 16 are against and 26 have said nothing.
On the other hand, while no Republican has publicly come out in favor of the bill, we have 9 Republicans who we characterize as undecided (although several are thought to be leaning no). A majority of these Republicans are from Long Island, a swing region in New York state politics.
From the site:
On the other hand, while no Republican has publicly come out in favor of the bill, we have 9 Republicans who we characterize as undecided (although several are thought to be leaning no). A majority of these Republicans are from Long Island, a swing region in New York state politics.
For a complete breakdown on who is for it and against it, click here.
See LI: Battleground for gay marriage
Long Island Business News – Ronkonkoma,NY,USA * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Same-Sex Unions Supplant Abortion As Social Priority for Conservatives In Fight Over High Court Pick
As President Obama prepares to name his first Supreme Court justice, conservatives in Washington are making clear that his nominee will face plenty of questions during the confirmation process on the legal underpinnings of same-sex marriage.
In addition to shedding more light on the nation’s most contentious unfolding social drama and legal frontier, Senate Republicans say the debate could provide a road map to an Obama nominee’s judicial philosophy.
“It may reflect the degree to which they think that they’re not bound by the classical meaning of the Constitution, and that they may want to let a personal agenda go beyond what the law said,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Questions on social issues in confirmation hearings have tended for the past 30 years to focus squarely on abortion, with partisans from both sides poring over a nominee’s writings and rulings and presidents typically denying that any “litmus test” was employed in the selection.
Same-sex marriage carries the same freighted potential to dominate a hearing, conservatives say.
“It is now the flash point where politics and law meet. That flash point used to be abortion. I don’t think anybody thinks that’s going to be the flash point in this nomination,” said William A. Jacobson, a Cornell University law professor and conservative blogger.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), another GOP member of the Judiciary Committee, said conservatives are particularly eager to avoid a Supreme Court ruling akin to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide and has divided the country ever since. “I don’t think members of the court, or any of us, ever want to see a decision like that again,” Hatch said. Obama assured the senator in a recent meeting that he will not pick a “radical” to replace Souter, but Hatch added: “Presidents always say that. That’s why we have the hearing process.”
Same-sex marriage gained national resonance in the wake of last month’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling that legalized the practice in that state. And in the two weeks since Justice David H. Souter announced his retirement, Maine also legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the fifth state to do so; the New Hampshire legislature sent a marriage-equality bill to the governor; the New York State Assembly approved gay-marriage legislation; and the District of Columbia voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Those actions, in so short a time, have outstripped the ability of Democrats in Washington to stake out their public position on the issue. MORE at Washington Post
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Out N.Y. lawmaker makes marriage his priority
Out N.Y. lawmaker makes marriage his priority
This article looks at out New York state Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell’s “intensely personal” lobbying effort win passage of a marriage measure that’s scheduled to be considered today. Passage is considered highly likely in the 150-member Assembly. O’Donnell reportedly has secured the backing of almost 90 colleagues. A similar bill passed the state’s Assembly in 2007. The New York Times (5/11) , Daily News (New York) (5/12) * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Quinnipiac poll shows racial divide on marriage support among New Yorkers
New polling data was released on same-sex marriage by Quinnipiac University today, showing that New Yorkers are split on the legalization of same-sex marriage. According to the pollster, “Voters opposed same-sex marriage 55 – 37 percent in an April 15, 2004″ similar poll:
In this latest survey of more than 2,800 voters, New York State voters support same-sex civil unions 65 – 27 percent with 67 – 24 percent support from white voters and 52 – 39 percent support from black voters.
Jews support same-sex marriage 61 – 34 percent as Catholics oppose it 53 – 39 percent and Protestants say no 55 – 38 percent. Voters who attend religious services at least once a week oppose same-sex marriage 66 – 26 percent, while those who attend services less frequently support same-sex marriage 56 – 36 percent. Women support the measure 49 – 42 percent while men oppose it 51 – 42 percent.
Democrats support same-sex marriage 59 – 34 percent, but Republicans oppose it 68 – 24 percent while independent voters split with 46 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. Same- sex marriage wins 61 – 33 percent support among voters 18 to 34 years old and gets 48 – 44 percent support among voters 35 to 54 years old, while voters over 55 oppose it 55 – 37 percent.
Gays and lesbians are born that way, 46 percent of New York State voters say, while 29 percent say people choose their sexual orientation and 6 percent say it is decided by upbringing.
Deeper analysis of the poll and more figures can be found here.
See Quinnipiac poll shows racial divide on marriage support among New Yorkers
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New York Assembly passes gay marriage
(Washington) The New York State Assembly voted 89-52 Tuesday in favor of marriage for same-sex couples. The legislation will now move to the State Senate.
“It’s great to see the Assembly strongly re-affirm its support for marriage equality. It’s time for the Senate, which now has pro-equality leadership, to ensure that loving, …
Showdown looms over NY gay marriage
(Albany, New York) The New York State Assembly is expected to pass a marriage equality bill this week, but one again the legislation will likely be bogged down in the Senate.
The bill was unveiled last month by New York Gov. David Paterson (D) and introduced in the Assembly by Assemblyman …
