In 2011 NY got Gay Marriage now*Gov.Cuomo Wants data to see What else is needed for Inclusion

                                                                       

It was amazing when most New Yorkers, straights and gays and even some Republicans got together four years ago to make gay marriage happened. After the disappointment of the previous Governor who promised to sign the legislation that kept passing with only a few votes short he promised he would sign it. When the legislation finally passed all it needed was the signature of the Governor but going against his promises he was persuaded by the black churches in NY to not sign or he would loose their votes in the following elections. He vetoed the bill. He went along with the anti agy black religious lobby even though he wouldn’t get any votes on that election. He decided not to be humiliated since the Democrats were not going to vote for him and so he didn’t even run. So the black religious vote did not mattered matter after all.

When the next Democrat Governor was elected, Gov. Mario Cuomo, he had a different take to an election promise. He went and talked to the few republicans needed to pass the legislation and they did go along even knowing that it will cost some of them their jobs which it did. This was the year that masks were taken off politicians. There were politicians getting money from the Gay lobby and promising to vote for the legislation but when it passed they had a sudden conciseness problem.

 We know they could not have had problems on something they did not have and as a consequence those people ceased to count. That was NY  that year of 2011 but with a governor convinced NY had to show the world we still New York the Empire state with ‘cojones’ with his determination he convinced everyone to get on board. That was a great time to be in NY and to be a New Yorker. 

Same Sex marriage was not going to affect me but still I thought it was my duty as a citizen to protest sign petitions, write on the blog because it was a matter of civil rights and we needed to be treated the same as the straights. One thing is to say everyone is treated equal and another is thing is when the metal hits the asphalt, no this is not for you, you are not like us. In New York it did mattered and it made a lot of noise but it was only that,  noise.  With everything stupid and crazy anti gay people say to treat us below the standards, it not they listen to their conscience (they don’t have one) and not their bible they don’t even read, nor understand; It is just noise. Those that oppose to others to have what they have themselves, not to give because is not theirs to give but to support for other or just not stand at the door to impeded to have  the same equality they enjoy. Gay rights, gay civil rights, gay human rights, same sex marriage, what ever is called it is the easiest argument to win. Its like tissue paper and you know what you do with it after holding it a few seconds.

If the person has common sense and a conscience with the right information they will support equal rights for every human being.

Now the Governor is got more in mind. When you have centuries of denying people their constitutional rights (as per our Supreme Court) it takes more than a marriage certificate to bring everyone into the tent. This is what Governor Cuomo understands and he is going to make it still better.

Adam Gonzalez, Publisher

                                                                         

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Albany’s chambers waves after Victory in passing gay marriage legislation. Next the signing!

                                                                    

[ From Albany] Gay marriage has been legal in New York since 2011, and there’s nothing happening today that compares to the recent jailing of a rural Kentucky town clerk who refused to issue licenses to same sex couples.

But the drive to expand gay rights continues, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announcing a new SUNY Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy that includes a new data collection tool to determine the sexual orientation and gender identity of all students.

“Students will be able to select one of seven options (straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, questioning or unsure) or write-in an orientation not identified,” Cuomo announced. “Within the same tool, students will be able to select one of seven options (man, woman, trans man, trans woman, genderqueer/gender-fluid, questioning or unsure) or write-in an identity.”

“Key to SUNY’s efforts to be inclusive, students will have the opportunity to update this data each semester; and SUNY will be able to review retention and completion patterns for students who self-identify by campus, by sector, and across SUNY to inform student support services,” Cuomo said. 

The new policy also includes “cultural competency training” for SUNY staff, appointing a Chief Diversity Officer on every campus, and faculty research to advance the goals laid out in the policy.

The new policy is intended to address “race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, age, socioeconomic status, status as a veteran, status as an individual with a disability, students undergoing transition (such as transfer, stop-out, international student acclimation), and first-generation students.”

To Rev. Jason McGuire, the director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, the new laws, court rulings and regulations pertaining to government oversight of sexual matters is an affront to religious freedom.

“The ongoing effect is it forces people with strong religious convictions not to get involved in public life,” he said Friday.”That’s really the untold story — it removes those people from running for office and getting involved in government.

“Where does it stop?”

A Siena Poll released this summer indicated views like McGuire’s are in the minority in New York. By a margin of 64-28 percent, New Yorkers supported the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states, with or without a law like New York has.

“Upstaters agree with the decision by a 21-point margin, New York City voters support it by a 35-point margin and downstate suburbanites agree with the decision by an overwhelming 75-19 percent margin,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in announcing the results.

The news that SUNY is creating a sexual and gender orientation database on its student body has attracted little attention, unlike the strident support and opposition to the marriage equality bill Cuomo pushed through the Legislature in June 2011.

Advocates on both sides of the issue demonstrated in the Capitol as the voting took place in the state Senate, where four Republicans switched positions at Cuomo’s request and voted yes.

They have all since left the Senate, either by not running or being defeated. One of was Roy McDonald, who was defeated in a primary by Saratoga County Clerk Kathy Marchione (R-Marchione), who went on to win the general election.

The marriage law has settled into the routine now, with an estimated 10 percent of all marriages in New York now between same sex couples. After its adoption, a handful of town clerks who do not support gay marriage on religious ground either stepped down or assigned marriage license duties to other employees.

None were brought in before a federal judge like town clerk Kim Davis was in Kentucky, which does not have a marriage equality law but must abide by the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex unions.

When lawmakers return to Albany in January, a top issue will once again be GENDA — the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.

The gay rights lobbying group Empire Pride Agenda says the bill “would outlaw discrimination in New York State based on gender identity or expression. GENDA also would expand the state’s hate crimes law to explicitly include crimes against transgender people.”

The bill is modeled on laws now in effect in 10 places around the state, including Albany County, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton and New York City. That latter location means that about 60 percent of New Yorkers are already covered by a local gender non-discrimination law.

The bill follows a 2003 law called SONDA, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, which forbids discrimination against gays in “employment, housing, public accommodations, education, credit, and the exercise of civil rights.”

The law was the basis of a $13,000 penalty levied last year against the owners of Liberty Ridge Farm in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, for turning down a lesbian couple who wanted to get married there.

McGuire said his group helped pay the money to show their support for fellow Christians who don’t accept the gay marriage law.

“We’ve heard this mantra from the left for so long that we need to get government out of our bedrooms,” McGuire said. “And literally this is now where they are going, forcing this family to have to open their bedrooms to these lesbian couples for their weddings, at least in this case.”

Kyle Hughes, NYSNYS News