Opponents of gay marriage rally

I dropped by the park on the park on the west side of the Capitol today, where a few hundred people organized by the conservative Christian group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) were rallying against a bill that would legalize gay marriage. Two New York City senators, Republican Marty Golden and Democrat Ruben Diaz, were the headliners. They like other speakers stressed the religious foundations of the movement, specifically and repeatedly including Christians, Jews and Muslims. Diaz said he has love in in his heart for everyone, and would not be intimidated by people calling him names like homophobe. "This black guy with the kinky hair and the broken English," he said, "I am not keeping my mouth shut."

A speaker from the New York State Catholic Conference said legalization of gay marriage would present many threats to religious liberty, mostly on the basis of already passed laws that forbid discrimination on the basis of marital status. Catholic Charities has already been forced to close adoption agencies in Boston and Washington, D.C., he said, and legalization would pose threats to religious institutions in the areas of government contracts, tax exemption and hiring discretion, and also would threaten the religious liberty of private citizens.

The Rev. Duane Motley of NYCF mentioned the (non)marital status of the relationship between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his live-in companion, and claimed that legalizing gay marriage would tend to weaken the institution of marriage, leading to more cohabitation, illegitimacy, health problems, school dropouts and crime. "Traditional marriage protects the very foundation of our civilization," he said.

Comments

[Brian]

Correction: Catholic Charities has not been "forced" to close adoption agencies anywhere. They've chosen to.

Gay citizens have a constitutional right to be treated equally under the law.

The Catholic Church does NOT have a constitutional right to participate in the adoption industry. They can, provided they follow the same rules that every other participant in the adoption industry follows. If they don't want to follow the same rules, they can choose to opt out of that industry.

This is NOT a "threat to religious liberty" because adoption is not a religious practice.

All of this is an exceedingly weak argument against the basic premise of justice that all people should be treated fairly by the state... Diaz's whining about name calling not constituting an actual argument.

I don't know how he can say he has "love in his heart" for everyone including gays when his position would preclude gay people from having the right to visit their partners in the hospital, for example. Talk is cheap.

And before you claim that there are other ways to grant gay people those rights short of marriage, I'd like to point out that no legislator, including Saint Diaz, is proposing anything of the sort.

[Brian]

And it's highly offensive for "Rev." Motley to blame the gay civil rights movement for the fact that straight people get divorced or live together unmarried.

If anything, marriage will be STRENGTHED by the inclusion of more people who believe so strongly in the institution that they want to participate in it and are willing to struggle to do so.

[Bob Conner]

Hi Brian: It seems to me you're making the Catholic Church's point. They say this law will have the effect of changing the rules for adoption agencies, and you appear to agree.

[Bob Conner]

And re hospital visits, that could indeed be taken care of by legislation which I am confident would pass the Legislature. As would civil unions, were gay rights advocates prepared to settle for them (which they are not).

[Matthew]

All the more reason for the state to get out of the "marriage" racket & move to giving everyone (who desires & qualifies) "civil unions".

Although considering the sizeable budget gap, wouldn't passing this gay marriage bill be in the state's best interest? We'd get an influx from all those new marriage licensing fees.

[Matthew]

"Rev. Duane Motley of NYCF mentioned the (non)marital status of the relationship between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his live-in companion, and claimed that legalizing gay marriage would tend to weaken the institution of marriage, leading to more cohabitation, illegitimacy, health problems, school dropouts and crime. "Traditional marriage protects the very foundation of our civilization," he said."

I'd love to know what scientific data Rev Motley has to back up his claims because the Pew Research Study published back in Nov:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1802/decline-marriage-rise-new-families

...concludes the opposite.

[Bob Conner]

Hi Matt: I don't think that Pew study concludes that.
I would settle for a civil union compromise.