Well, let me tell you. A few minutes ago, I finished watching Capitol Tonight with Brian Taffe. I couldn't even explain to you how slanted a story it was, in favor of legalizing same sex marriage. He had a "married" lesbian couple on, who one of the women was actually head of the CDGLCC, Nora Yates, who "married" her "wife" on a trip to Canada and wants it to be recognized for health benefits and workers' comp / death and inheritance benefits. As far as what they were saying with inheritance, I don't personally think it's something where they need to change the law to recognize this coupling as the same as marriage. There's other ways for them to make sure these benefits are passed on. If I'm not correct, you DO still have the option to go and put ANY other person on your bank account, or to buy property in conjunction with any other person, putting your name and theirs on the mortgage and/or deed. Am I not right? Would this not give these people the same benefits that they are looking for? IDK, just a late night rant. Oh, and back to the slant of Capital Tonight. They had the head of the CDGLCC and her "wife" on, as well as Russ Levi, the NYS Pride Agenda Director of Education. To balance this out, they talked about how slanted the Assembly is towards the Dems and how they have passed things like this, only to have it held up by the Republican Majority in the Senate. They then went on to ask how the voting would go on in the Senate if there was a tie vote, since the Lieutenant Governor usually would have to caset this vote. Since we don't have a Lieutenant Governor because of Client 9 stepping down and Governor Patterson taking his place, they say that there's 2 choices, and I don't know which of these is the fact, whether Senate majority leader Joe Bruno would get to vote twice, once as a senator, and once as the majority leader, since he would be replacing the Lieutenant Governor in this capacity, or the other option is that Sheldon Silver may have to walk across the building to come over and cast the tie breaking vote. Yippee....what a win for NY, huh?
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A victory for gay rights First published: Friday, May 30, 2008
New York is suddenly a more enlightened place than it was that dreary day just two years ago, when its highest court ruled same-sex couples had no right under state law to marry. Governor Paterson's order that New York recognize gay marriages that take place in other states and countries is a clear and bold step toward providing same-sex couples that right in this state. For now, hundreds and perhaps thousands of gay men and women will have all the rights, especially regarding government employment and related benefits, that married couples of opposite sexes enjoy. That means, for instance, that Patricia Martinez, who works at Monroe Community College in Rochester, no longer can be denied the health benefits the college offers. Ms. Martinez's marriage to another woman, performed in Canada, is of legal standing here in New York. Mr. Paterson's decree to that effect is already under fire as some sort of sneaky power play around the Legislature and the legislative process. Just listen to the Rev. Duane Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. "He's circumventing the courts and circumventing the Legislature and setting himself up as a dictator and pandering to a very small interest group," the Rev. Motley says of the governor. In fact, Mr. Paterson is upholding the law, as it applies to all New Yorkers. His order comes in response to a Feb. 1 ruling by a state Appellate Court in Rochester upholding Ms. Martinez's rights to the health benefits her job provides. That decision means that if New York wishes to deny those rights and others to Ms. Martinez, or any other married gay person, the Legislature would have to vote explicitly to do so. That puts the Legislature in a crosshairs of sorts. It can't say it wasn't warned, however. The 2006 Court of Appeals decision against gay marriage makes very specific note of the Legislature's power to expand the rights and benefits of marriage. Here's Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno presenting Mr. Paterson's order as a clash between gubernatorial power and legislative power. Does that mean he plans legislative action to negate the rights a court has upheld and the governor is so serious about protecting? We ardently hope not. Mr. Paterson's order is as far as he can go. It is best taken as an opportunity for the Senate to pass the same gay marriage bill the state Assembly approved last year. "Fundamental rights are fundamental rights," Chief Judge Judith Kaye wrote in a powerful dissent to that unfortunate Court of Appeals ruling in 2006. "They are not defined in terms of who is entitled to exercise them." Now Mr. Paterson has effectively warned others in state government to stop denying those rights to people based on their sexual orientation. ISSUE:New York recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries.THE STAKES:How can it ban gay unions here?
CAPITOL Gay rights decree is met with joy, condemnation BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
On May 19, 2004, Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman, after being together almost 13 years, were married in a small town north of Boston. Four hours later, they were back in their Greenwich Village home, and as far as New York state was concerned, the wedding never happened. That changed this month when New York Gov. David Paterson directed state agencies to make sure that same-sex couples are provided as many as 1,300 benefits and rights afforded to married heterosexual couples. They include collecting health and pension benefits, being admitted as “close family” in a hospital room and transferring a business license. “We learned about it when we picked up our paper this morning on the front stoop,” said Zimmerman, who with Wexler, a 37-year-old film director, has four children, ages 2 to 8. They rushed to their breakfast table to read the article, then tried to explain it to Jerry, Ella, Ruby and Violet. “It was just a great conversation for us to have,” said Zimmerman, 35. “They definitely understand what’s fair and not fair and definitely understand their family isn’t being treated the same way as their friends’ families.” For them, Paterson’s two-page memo featured in news accounts nationwide Thursday is a manifesto. Others, New York’s Catholic bishops among them, see it as an assault on the family and a big foot in the door toward legalizing same-sex marriage in New York. “The definition of marriage predates recorded history,” argued New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. “No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose.” Still, Paterson, a Roman Catholic, defended his action Thursday by trying to downplay its magnitude. He said that not only is his decision supported by long-standing civil rights law, but failure to act would expose the state to litigation if it didn’t recognize other states’ marriages for all. “We have a time-held and timetested tradition honoring those marital rights,” Paterson said at a Manhattan news conference. “I am taking the same approach that this state always has with respect to out-of-state or marriages conducted in foreign governments being recognized here in the state of New York. I am following the law as it has always existed.” Paterson, long a supporter of same-sex marriage rights, rebuked critics who claimed that he crossed the constitution — “they should get a little better informed” — and Republican lawmakers who said he overstepped his bounds — they should go into session and “do something.” “As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s beautiful,” Paterson said. Neighboring Massachusetts is the only U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but its residency requirements bar New Yorkers from marrying there. California may follow in June. Canada is among the nations where samesex marriage is legal. Even the state’s biggest gay lobby, the Empire State Pride Agenda, is trying to figure out exactly what Paterson’s directive will do in New York and if it will survive a possible challenge in the state’s highest court. The organization said the directive will likely be felt in clarifying a surviving same-sex spouse’s rights in the state workers’ compensation program; inheritance of vending, commercial fishing and other commercial licenses; tax breaks on property transfers and jointly filed income tax returns; and conflict-of-interest provisions that prevent spouses from certain activities in regulated businesses like banking and lobbying. Rights to the state pension fund were already established by the state Comptroller’s Offi ce in 2004. The state Civil Service Department followed in 2007 for insurance and other state employees’ benefits. Lawmakers approved surviving partners’ workers’ compensation claims from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Advocates said that it was unclear whether it would have any effect on private employers’ insurance, which the state regulates. Some areas will be decided by courts, including the case cited in Paterson’s memo that so far has been decided only by the midlevel Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, said matrimonial attorney Seymour Reisman of Garden City. “I think this will go to the Court of Appeals,” Reisman said. “The courts are not immune to where the public is going, and I think the governor has laid out certainly where he thinks the public should be going.” Politically, Paterson’s directive was a strong return to his liberal base after spending the first nine weeks of his time in office staking out a claim as a fiscal conservative. And he boosted the left with a measure that he says won’t cost the state any money. Timing also played a role. On Wednesday, California’s state government issued a directive that effective June 17, samesex couples could be legally wed in that state. Hours later, Paterson’s office, led by his openly gay chief of staff, Charles J. O’Byrne, released its own memo to agency heads. Zimmerman, a Massachusetts native, had to win a 2007 court decision in the Bay State that affirmed that her marriage to Wexler was legal. Several same-sex marriages involving New York couples who wed in Massachusetts before July 2006 were declared valid because New York’s top court had not ruled out same-sex marriages until then. “A lot of the benefits and rights that come along with marriage are protections when things go badly,” Zimmerman said, citing hospital care decisions and burial rights among them.
Anyhow, all I see coming is government 'healthcare' and other government 'benefits'.....so who cares if someone is gay and 'married',,,,call it what ya will, do what ya will,,,,,it's just a big free for all and Egypt of ancient days had nothing on us.....and if they did we will find it and legalize it......
ATTENTION: Everyone, get out of the closets and off those fortified compounds and out of those high price call guys/gals.....it is a 'free' for all.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
NEW YORK — A Christian legal organization says it has sued to stop New York from recognizing samesex marriages legally performed in other states. The Alliance Defense Fund says it filed its lawsuit Tuesday in a court in the Bronx. Several Republican state senators are named as party to the suit. Gay marriage is unconstitutional in New York. Gov. David Paterson however told state agencies on May 14 that New York must recognize same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts, Canada and other places where they are legal.
New radio ad blasts gay marriage Updated: 06/04/2008 By: Web Staff
NEW YORK STATE -- A controversial radio ad will begin playing in Albany, New York City and Rochester starting on Thursday. It is being paid for by the National Organization for Marriage.
Members are upset over Governor Paterson's directive to state agencies to begin recognizing gay marriages performed in other states and countries where it is illegal.
Meanwhile, Governor Paterson's move has now been challenged in courts. It's a move that was expected, but the list of plaintiffs may not have been. Among them are several state lawmakers, including Republican state senators Martin Golden and Serphin Maltese, as well as Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco. They have joined a Christian coalition called the Alliance Defense Fund to file an injunction against the Governor. It claims that Paterson's actions defy a 2006 Court of Appeals decision. And it also suggests that Paterson's decision to circumvent the legislature violated the state's constitution.
First, I would I’d like to give praise to our new governor. Recently he contacted over 1,100 agencies, telling them to respect state laws recognizing gay marriages and to give these married couples all the allowances that straight married couples are allowed [May 29 Gazette]. I’m sure a lot of his advisers didn’t think this was a good time for a new governor to be going to bat on such a controversial issue. I find it so sad that the honeymoon is already over for some of our Republican politicians, who just a month ago were also singing his praises and now have turned on him. He is following what our constitution says in respecting other states’ laws and not overturning what is legal in Massachusetts and California. It makes me cry that health coverage and patients’ rights in hospitals are denied just because of who you love and want to spend your life with. The Catholic Church wants to take our government to court over this? I feel the church has enough problems with their own priests to be casting any rocks. I say let people live the way they feel they must. Let’s praise our new governor for standing up for not only our state, but for what our constitution really was made for: protecting all Americans! GRETCHEN CLARKE RONEY Glenville
Coming out in a different world Despite progress, gay teens can face a difficult time, particularly in school
By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer . First published: Friday, June 6, 2008
ALBANY -- I am gay.
It scared Nick Holterman to write those words for the first time in eighth grade. He took 142 words to tell his mom. He ended the letter with Don't Fret, Don't Panic. There is something I need to tell you. However, I could not say it to you person to person. I don't know why. Maybe it was because of how you might react. I know you will not react negatively, but I just couldn't do it. I am gay. Today at Albany High School, where Nick is a 17-year-old junior, everyone knows he's gay. Tonight he's going to the Alternative Prom at the University at Albany in a tutu just to be goofy, he said. "It's important to know yourself," he said. "You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are." Nick came out at a time when some celebrities proudly proclaim their homosexuality and the men right across the street from his childhood home live openly as a gay couple. Yet it's not always safe to be out of the closet. In February, a 15-year-old was shot dead in a California school because he was gay. Nationwide over the past decade, at least 181 people have been killed because of their sexuality, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. At the same time, there's arguably more tolerance. For New Yorkers that's reflected in Gov. David Paterson's order that state agencies recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, including California, which legalized gay marriage. Nick first heard the word gay in school. He recalled how kids on the playground in first grade started calling him gay, though he had no idea what it meant. By eighth grade, he felt other boys were cute. He Googled "gay" and "teen" to get what he calls a foundation. It was January 2005. He was 14. He already knew who he was, but he needed to read someone else's words to help figure it out. By May, he was ready to tell his mom. He was terrified. He had nothing to worry about. Amy Holterman treasured that birthday letter and called it a gift. Her son is now surrounded by friends who snarl at classmates who make slurs about his sexuality. It was a much different world when Ward Dale, Nick's drama teacher at Albany High, came out in the early 1980s. The AIDS scare had begun and gay marriage was nowhere near the horizon. Dale waited until college to tell his own parents he was gay. It can still be a struggle to identify yourself as gay, he said. Now 43, he said many adults don't know how to talk about homosexuality with teens because they focus on the sex instead of love. He remembered how Nick hid behind his long hair as a freshman. "It's terrifying to finally admit it out loud to yourself," Dale said. "You risk losing everything." Despite homosexuality's prominence in popular culture, schools are often the most hostile environments for gay teenagers, said Nora Yates, executive director of the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council.Ridicule is common, she said, and teachers and administrators don't often know how to intervene, or care to do so. The Alternative Prom, which turns 10 tonight, is a refuge for the students, a place where kids won't squeal if they see two boys slow dancing. "It allows them to think positively about their identity and becoming adults with this identity rather than being persecuted at their high school," Yates said. Nick knows that bigotry well. A few months ago, he was alone on the stairwell at Albany High when a bully encountered him. The punch to the chest made Nick stumble. Perhaps it was just another random act of high school violence, motivated by social class, physical strength or even boredom. But Nick wondered if it was more than that. He struggles at times. A classmate in math heard him talking about a crush he had for another boy and screamed "Ewww, that's gross." It stings, to hear a homophobic epithet hurled across the school hallway like a rock. Tonight, in the middle of Pride Week, Nick won't have to worry about getting punched. For him and 300 other gay and straight teens at A-Prom, "gay" is a compliment, not a putdown for a kid who can't catch a football. Coming out, for Nick, "is a lifelong process," he said. He appreciates the people who let him feel normal. But someday, he said, he'll move to Canada, where he can marry a man. Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.
New York has its own definition of marriage Are Canada, Massachusetts and California branches of the New York state government? If not, then why is Gov. David Paterson willing to force state agencies to abide by their definition of marriage, which is contrary to the legally established (and may I add theologically correct) definition that our state has held since her inception?
By THE REV. JOE ROOF Clifton Park First published: Monday, June 9, 2008
If this is put out there for a public vote, it will definitely get voted down. Just remember...if women's right to vote, the integration of blacks in schools, just to name a few, were put up for a vote, the majority of the people back then would have voted NO!! Especially women's right to vote, since it would have been all men voting anyways!
I'm not saying that I am in favor of a state law allowing gay marriage. I am just saying that in certain circumstances, the popular vote would be based on opinion, religious and political belief and not in line with the laws written in our constitution.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Our constitution is a living breathing document and changes as the 'enemy' takes different routes for the attack......who/what is the enemy.....and to whom/what are they/it and enemy to???????
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Juvenile jails change to help transgender kids The Associated Press
SYRACUSE — Transgender youth in New York’s juvenile detention centers can now wear whatever uniform they choose, be called by whatever name they want and ask for special housing under a new anti-discrimination policy that advocacy groups say is among the nation’s most progressive. “New York is way ahead of the curve,” said Roberta Sklar, a spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “When you have a system like the New York Office of Children and Family Services putting out a clear nondiscrimination policy, it should be seen as a model for similar kinds of agencies all over the country,” she said. The policy went into effect March 17, the same day Gov. David Paterson was sworn into office to replace the disgraced Eliot Spitzer. Last month, Paterson directed all state agencies to immediately recognize same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere as valid in New York. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield said the policy reflects the state’s intention to be “tolerant, responsive and respectful” of gender identity and gender expression issues. Hawaii and California are among the handful of states that have taken steps to afford specifi c civil rights protection to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth in foster care and juvenile detention, said Susan Hazeldean, director of the Peter Cicchino Youth Project for the New York City-based Urban Justice Center. In a 2001 report, the center found that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth routinely experienced discrimination, harassment and violence in New York’s juvenile justice system. The state runs 30 juvenile centers with a total of about 1,200 residents. OCFS officials estimate that there are between 20-30 transgender youth in its system. “What we were concerned about is that LGBT young people are entering these programs facing a lot of hostility and violence, and coming out more traumatized and more damaged than when they went in,” Hazeldean said. “We think this policy is going to make a real difference,” she said. Ross Levi, public policy director at Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s largest gay rights organization, also said the OCFS policy was among the most far-reaching in the country.
I guess the word 'perversion' doesn't exist any longer, huh? Sounding more and more like Sodom and Gomorra. And look what happened to them.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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