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Statement by Empire State Pride
Executive Director Agenda Alan Van Capelle Despite the characterization by The New York Times that the Pride Agenda is in a "quiet period" when it comes to talking about winning marriage equality for our families in New York, I can assure New Yorkers that we are in no "quiet period" and that any such characterization is a misunderstanding of what it is we're doing. Last Monday night I attended a town meeting in New York City on winning marriage equality where I said quite clearly that our community has work to do to get the votes we need to win marriage in the State Senate, that we are doing that work and that we welcome all the help we can get to do it. The Gay City News wrote about this meeting and reported on what the Pride Agenda had to say about the work that needs to be done. This is just one example of the several events across the state that I and other Pride Agenda staff have participated in during the past few weeks. In 2007 we said passing a marriage bill in the Assembly would be possible if we all rolled up our shirt sleeves and did the work winning the votes. We started with 35 votes in the Assembly at the beginning of the year and passed the marriage bill a few months later with 85 votes and it happened because thousands of LGBT New Yorkers and our allies worked in their Assembly Districts to get the votes. With this year's elections, The Pride Agenda had two goals for the NYS Assembly and State Senate and we accomplished both. The first was to make sure that no Assemblymember who voted for marriage equality legislation in 2007 lost. None did. The second was to replace two anti-LGBT State Senators with two pro-LGBT State Senators and, by doing so, help put in place a new Majority Leadership in the State Senate that is committed to working with us on our issues. We did that. Now we have to go back to work, like we did in the Assembly in 2007, to win the votes we need to pass a marriage bill in the State Senate. Our marriage scorecard shows we're not there yet, but then we weren't there in the Assembly either at the beginning of 2007. We're going to need votes of both Democrats and Republicans and that's what we're working towards. No LGBT piece of legislation has ever passed without bipartisan support in New York State and neither will this one. I am confident, though, that our community and our allies are dedicated to doing the work that lies ahead that will result in getting the votes we need from both Democrats and Republicans to pass marriage equality legislation in the State Senate. We have never hesitated to talk to the press about the work that needs to be done to win marriage equality for our families. Quite a few reporters, however, are focused almost solely on the inside game of politics and we have been declining to speculate about that with them. If someone wants to call this our "quiet period" then so be it. But as the Gay City News article demonstrates, we are always willing to talk to reporters who are interested in finding out about what it will take to actually win on our issues. We believe it is old fashioned work--building a strong base of support for marriage equality, both LGBT and straight, in the districts of elected officials--that moves legislators to be with us. There are no shortcuts and there is no one waiting to give this bill to our community. That has never happened before and it's not going to happen now. It's going to take work and we're not afraid of doing it. That's what the Pride Agenda is about and we welcome everyone and anyone who wants to get involved with us or with others to do this. |
