Read one Republican New York senator's explicit statement of support for same-sex marriage
By James Brady RyanJune 17th, 2011, 8:30 amComments (13)
Sen. Roy McDonald of Saratoga has become the second Republican state senator to come out in support of same-sex marriage, meaning supporters of the measure are one vote away from having the numbers they need to pass the bill. And while that in and of itself is news enough, Sen. McDonald is getting quite a bit of attention for the manner in which he made his support known, going blue in a way lawmakers seldom do. (Well, not unless they're behind closed doors, I'm sure.) Here's what McDonald had to say, via the New York Daily News:
"You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn't black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing," McDonald, 64, told reporters.
"You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, f--- it, I don't care what you think. I'm trying to do the right thing.
"I'm tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I'm trying to do the right thing, and that's where I'm going with this."
Snap! It's good to know that our politicians can also get frustrated enough with our political system to let some F-bombs fly. Four other Republicans are considering casting "aye" votes, which means it is quite likely that New York could legalize same-sex marriage soon — possibly even today. (The bill has the support of all Democrats except, annoyingly but not surprisingly, Ruben Diaz.) That would be an exciting capper to the week, wouldn't you say?
Comments ( 13 )
Keep going with it then, sir. There is a long way ahead.
More GOP politicos caving in to social pressure in largely democratic states. What a surprise. This isn't enlightenment, they have been made afraid for their political lives. As well as lauding those who change their votes because of this pressure, how about lauding those who stand their ground based on what they truly, personally believe; even if you don't like it?
Before the vote on Prop 8, gay rights groups kept touting polling numbers that showed that they had the upper hand and that the initiative would be defeated easily. But inside the voting booth, the people had their say; as it should be. You have activist judges legislating from the bench and you have state legislatures in favor of gay marriage. But if it were left entirely to the voice of the people, there wouldn't be gay marriage legal anywhere in this country. The legislators aren't truly representing the people. They, as most people do, say what they are supposed to say in public because they are afraid of the backlash.
"But if it were left entirely to the voice of the people, there wouldn't be gay marriage legal anywhere in this country."
For the first time in Gallup's tracking of the issue, a majority of Americans (53%) believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The increase since last year came exclusively among political independents and Democrats. Republicans' views did not change.
https://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/first-time-majority-americans-favor-le...
"Other polls have tracked an even sharper rise in California and the West in favor of allowing same-sex marriage to resume. A CNN survey last month put support for gay marriage at 61% among those questioned in Western states. Public Policy Polling, a Field Poll survey and the Public Policy Institute of California have also recorded majority support for gay marriage rights over the past year."
https://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/23/local/la-me-gay-marriage-support...
"The legislators aren't truly representing the people. They, as most people do, say what they are supposed to say in public because they are afraid of the backlash."
Yeah, most republicans are totally afraid of offending gay people and their supporters. Did you see anything about that last republican Presidential debate?
Also, one last thing. You are making a huge assumption that he was only doing this to cave into political pressure and that he really actually hates gays and doesn't want them to marry. I guess you are pretending to read his mind or something, do you know him? Maybe he genuinely supports gay marriage.
Also, using the argument that if the majority of the population doesn't support it then it shouldn't happen is flawed logic because this is a question of human rights which should not even be settled in a proposition in the first place. For example, we wouldn't have decided if schools should be desegregated based on popular vote.
Actually, "uh, you're wrong" sort of proved Riiiight's point for him. What somebody says to a pollster and what they do in the voting booth are usually two different things. If legislators were able do an anonymous vote, I'll bet that gay marriage wouldn't be legal anywhere. I'm with Right.
So, you are with right in restricting the rights of fellow Americans for what reason now?
this commentator - and many like it - are clearly bought and paid for. there's been a sharp increase in this sort of comment on supposedly 'liberal' websites in the past six months or so - the republicans are clearly putting a lot more resources behind this kind of PR. it's relatively cheap and of course unattributable to them
so don't feed the trolls, particularly when they're just saying what they're paid to say
if you want to see where this ends, google 'wumaodang'
Could you please write articles about NY without assuming you're only writing for New Yorkers? A quick sentence explaining what the fuck is wrong with Ruben Diaz, for those of us in the rest of the country (and world!), would have been useful.
I thought the same thing, and I live here. Diaz is infamous, of course, for his anti-gay views, but he is just a State Senator from the Bronx.
In 2009, he was also involved with now-convicted girlfriend hitter Hiram Montserrate and now-indicted non-profit looter Pedro Espada in seeing whom they could extort more power from, the Republicans or the Democrats, in exchange for tipping control of the Senate. He may not be a scumbag of the first order like Montserrate and Espada, but he's at least a scumbag of the second order.
His speech should have ended with him whipping out his pistols and firing them wildly into the air, then mounting a unicorn and galloping away.
damn, I miss those days in politics
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