“I am extremely pleased that Governor Cuomo has made the passage of marriage equality legislation one of his top priorities for this legislative session. With polls now showing a clear majority of New Yorkers supporting marriage equality, I am more and more optimistic that if the Senate Majority allows the bill to come to the floor for a vote, it will have a good chance of passing.
“I strongly support marriage equality as a basic civil rights issue. Under current New York law, lesbian and gay couples are denied the basic protections provided to heterosexual couples. Denying gays and lesbians access to those benefits and protections – as well as the many responsibilities which come with civil marriage – is a violation of the fundamental principle of equal protection under our State constitution.
“Those who argue against marriage equality usually base their arguments either on 1) religious grounds or 2) their belief that marriage should be reserved for relationships centered around procreation and child rearing. The first argument fails to recognize both the separation of church and state and the fact that many denominations do in fact already recognize same sex marriages. And the second argument is just plain silly…
