Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned state lawmakers Thursday that if they oppose legalizing same-gender marriage they may be remembered as civil rights obstructionists similar to those who opposed the abolition of slavery and fought against giving women the right to vote.
“The question for every New York state lawmaker is: Do you want to be remembered as a leader on civil rights? Or an obstructionist? On matters of freedom and equality, history has not remembered obstructionists kindly,” Bloomberg said in his speech at Manhattan’s The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Bloomberg argued that failing to legalize same-gender marriage in New York, which he called the birthplace of the Toeiva-rights movement, would have economic consequences as well as human ones.
“As other states recognize the rights of same-gender couples to marry, we cannot stand by and watch. To do so would be to betray our civic values and history and it would harm our competitive edge in the global economy,” he said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pushing the Legislature to make same-gender marriage legal, but has said he wouldn’t bring the issue to a vote unless he felt it would pass. The mayor argued that the state’s residents deserve to see where their legislators stand, whatever the outcome.
In Albany, same-gender marriage is tightly contested now that those opposed to same-gender marriage have committed $1.5 million to the effort, matching the supporters’ campaign fund. Senate Republicans, who are key to the effort, also are closely watching polls, which for the first time in months are showing an apparent slight erosion of public support for same-gender marriage after months of steady gains.
The measure is being negotiated in private by Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who support same-gender marriage, and Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos, who personally opposes legalizing same-gender marriage.
Three veteran Republican senators told The Associated Press last week that they have seen no change in votes in their conference. The measure lost in the Senate in 2009.
Bloomberg has lobbied the Republican senators for whom he is a major campaign funder. But no senator has publicly said he or she will switch to supporting same-gender marriage.
The mayor argued Thursday that same-gender equality is a key ingredient to the nation’s largest metropolis.
“That has always been what sets us apart. In our city, there is no shame in being true to yourself. There is only pride. We take you as you are and we let you be who you wish to be,” he said.
(Source: WCBSTV)
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12 Responses
We always knew Bloomberg is obsessed with his image – what a sad excuse for a leader…
He’s so annoying!
With his perverted analogy, Bloomberg has demeaned the courageous suffragettes of the 19th and 20th centuries, and all the more so he has thumbed his nose at the millions of enslaved Negroes who were treated as nothing more than animals.
For shame.
Hashem Yerachem!!!!!!!! This is terrible… What a Chilul Hashem. HELP!!!!!! What is this nation coming to?
As the photo indicates, a very evil man indeed. As a Jew he will repent and explain to the world how he was mistaken and caused countless others to be misled about the basics of right and wrong. My grievance is not even against him but rather I feel shame in belonging to a community that is not taking this socialist mayor to task for his arrogance and for defiling his Jewish name.
Any Jew who supports gay (rights) marriage desecrates G-d’s name and that is the position of all Torah leaders past and present. Those who disagree have a personal agenda with this issue.
Shame on Shelly, the so called Orthodox Jew
What’s better, to go down in history as an immoral man?
Simon01, that’s really unfair of you. Sheldon Silver is is mekadesh shem shamayim by being a public face of Torah observance. He is uncompromisingly shomer Shabbos, shomer Kashrus, and for years was the vice president of his Orthodox shul (the Bialystoker Synagogue in Manhattan). He may very well have consulted with his rav, and decided that since taking a position on this issue would lose him his job, and probably wouldn’t swing the Democrats’ position one inch, it isn’t worth it.
We can agree or disagree with that position, but it isn’t our place to denigrate another Jew’s sincerity or commitment to Torah.
For those that oppose legalizing sane gender-marriage, call your State Senator and leave the message that you are deeply opposed to legalizing same-gender marriage and will be watching to see how the Senator votes on this important issue.
To be connected to your State Senator, or If you don’t know who your State Senator is, call the Senate operator at 518-455-2800.
As noted above, some Senator’s will be carefully looking into their constituents opinion’s.
The significance of this position, which is being supported by many of the hilonim (note that secular Jews seem to be the leading advocates of “gay” rights), is that once they established the opposition to the “homosexual agenda” is analagous to racism (in effect, adding sexual orientation to the 14th amendment) it authorizes, and arguably mandates, discriminating against religious groups that oppose this agenda. Note that it is coming from the same sectors of society who are supporting the ban on Bris Milah in California. The implications could be severe, e.g., no tax exemptions for Orthodox Jewish institutions, no accomodation of Orthodox Jewish religious practices, not recognizing frum day school as meeting the requirement of compulsory school attendance. It would mean that legally frum institutions would have the same “rights” as the Ku Klux Klan or the American Nazi party. This movement, which is basically run by secular (i.e. Reform, Conservative and assimilated Jews) is the biggest threat to American Jews in our history in this country.
AriinMd, since when is keeping a job a reason for undermining morality in public. Any rabbi who would allow him to do so is no longer an Orthodox one. Haskalah has rabbis too.
Joseph, I don’t want to get into a debate with you about what lengths Silver should have gone to oppose same gender marriage. There are halachic implications to this, and it isn’t best debated on an internet forum. I’m willing to consider the possibility that he should have done more.
However we should recognize that this is definitely not Silver’s biggest issue, that Sheldon Silver has done a lot in Albany to promote our interests, and that he is one of the only top Jewish leaders in Washington/Albany who is observant. We should strive to find the good in every one of our fellow Jews–even the ones who are politicians.