As the State Assembly passed a same-gender marriage bill Wednesday night, State Senate Republicans say they will meet again tomorrow to decide whether or not to bring the measure to the floor before the legislative session ends.
The State Assembly passed the measure by an 80-63 vote tonight for the fourth time in two years.
“This is a matter of equity and justice,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a statement. “New Yorkers should have the right to marry whom they choose. Partners unable to enter into a civil marriage, and their children, lack basic legal protections taken for granted by married couples.”
The governor’s bill, which was formally introduced on Tuesday, provides several protections for religious groups opposed to same-gender marriage.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says his conference failed to reach a decision today.
“Discussions are going to continue. The issue has not been resolved,” said Skelos. “And I’ll respect the decision of the conference once it’s made, but the conference has asked me to keep the confidence of the conference at this point, which I intend to do. That’s my responsibility as a leader. And we will continue to conference the issue tomorrow.”
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34 Responses
Shame on Shelly
orthodox Jew? its like saying orthodox jew desecrates the shabbos. what makes one orthodox? a yarmulka? eating Kosher? i thought the definiton of orthodox is one who uses the tora as his guide to life?
@Takingabreak You are correct, but sadly that is not the way it is looked at.
If this bill passes, we can thank the Agudah, Dov Hikind, and all our askanim in Albany for utterly and completely failing to offer compelling frum Jewish opposition to toevah marriage.
Carl Kruger, who represents tens of thousands of frum Jews in Brooklyn, was one of the Democrats who flipped and now will vote in favor of toevah marriage in the Senate. He may provide the deciding vote. And he knows that if he delivers the TAP money, we’ll keep right on voting for him.
Our community has put public welfare benefits ahead of public morality. To continue a bloated and economically unsustainable kollel system, we’re forced to compromise our values on a Torah law that provides the basis of the family and societal morality.
If only we had the communal expectation that most young married men would enter the workforce, and only a gifted few would stay in the beis medrash. Then maybe we could get our tuition assistance and tzedakah from honest baal habatim in our own communities, not from spineless, gutless politicians in Albany, Trenton and Washington.
I have great respect for Sheldon Silver. He looks at the whole picture, which we are not privy to and concludes that in the long run it’s best for us to go along. Just remember, any protection for that community, is also a protection for our community and our agenda. So cool it with the lashon hara. He’s done more for the frum community than all the frum agencies combined.
Didn’t Dov Hikind maintain that it won’t pass the NYS Assembly? … !
Shame on Dov too!
David Tyree, of the New York Giants, is more vocal than our community leaders on this issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6lwIx9f5uk&feature=player_embedded
He is an Orthodox Jew. This is a democracy and he is an elected politician his job is to make the decisions that he feels are in the best interest of his constituents not necessarily his personal beliefs.
Bear in mind that the issur the Torah forbids is already legal.
While I believe the position of most Orthodox Jews is that civil same gender marriage is the state sanctioning the morality of an assur act and should therefore remain illegal; I don’t believe that voting for same gender marriage makes one non-Orthodox.
Even if I’m wrong and it is forbidden to vote in favor of same gender marriage that doesn’t make him not Orthodox. If that were true then anyone who ever did an aveirah would be non-Orthodox and there wouldn’t be many of us left.
5 – that’s a total myth, proven wrong every time. and that’s besides the point that you’re loosing a lot of Hashem’s protection on the city.
Unless you meen by “agenda” more benifits….
Cherrybim, what about the terrible Chillul HaShem and Lifnei Iver–bringing about the Dor HaMabul situation? Maybe, he should go driving on Shabbos also for this or that communal need?
#5, what Lashon Hara?
If someone is doing something publicly against the Torah, and another person protests what the 1st person is doing,
that’s not Lashon Hara.
Re Protection: The only protection we have is from Hashem.
So if this abomination is allowed C”V, the Shechina runs away from Pritzus, and we lose Hashem’s protection.
Shelly Silver is as orthodox a Jew as I am a Buddhist…
@AriInMD Just another proof that the moderator has an agenda! How many times have such comments been moderated, and now it goes through? I agree with having a moderator, but not a moderator with an agenda! Prob no point in writing this bec it prob will be moderated as well!
#5, with all due respect to all parties involved, this is a major mistake and travesty no matter how sure you are of Mr. Silver’s motives as they are irrelevant.
What if other toevas were legalized? Ever hear of NAMBLA? Everyone is affected by their environment and if the umos HaOlam “legitimize” this abhorrent perversion then it is GUARANTEED that it will, at least to some small extent, filter down to the Am HaNivchar as well.
cherrybim-can you point to one thing that sheldon silver did for the jewish comunity? or is that a state secret…sheldon silver is a crass, selfish politician and he could not care less about “equality’ unless it helps him re-election…
5,
Henceforth, with your that “protection” you refer to will be latex and will have to be worn by us all!
Go learn the medresh on the real reason the mabul occurred! After that go build yourself an ark!
Shame on Sheldon.
In a previous vote in 09 למספרם it passed 89-52 in the assembly, and this time only by 80-63. So that means it has lost support by about ten votes in just two years. If nine votes would have switched it would have lost. So the trend is negative for it there, a good sign. Dov was on to something.
No.5 Disagree will you whole heartedly; why because what shmuz goes on the secular enters the frum house. Silver is not friend to the orthodox Jews by voting for this bill
AriInMD: “If only we had the communal expectation that most young married men would enter the workforce, and only a gifted few would stay in the beis medrash”
The Gemora in Brochos (ardound Daf 27) has already paskened against you. נתרבו הספסלים
Mr. Silver’s biggest crime here is transgressing שב ואל תעשה!
It is one thing to keep quite and let this pass on it’s own. It’s another thing to support it.
Assuming that he is not just looking for the Gay votes, but actually believes in what he said, then I think someone needs to educate him in Torah. He obviously is ignorant of the very basics in Torah values.
Hopefully he’ll read this:
1) The Torah say, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Bereshis – 1,28). Sefer HaChinuch brings this down as the first Mitzva in the Torah. He states that part of this Mitzva is the REQUIREMENT to “Marry a Woman” and that “Anyone who purposely avoids this mitzva is transgressing a positive mitzvah and that the punishment is VERY SEVERE being that he shows that he doesn’t desire to do the will of Hashem to populate the world!” (Don’t trust my translation? Look it up! It’s there black and white!)
2) It is well known that the Torah states outright that Homosexuality is forbidden (Leviticus 18,17). Sefer HaChinuch explains the reason is “because Hashem wants the world to be populated. Therefore, He commanded not to waist one’s seed through a homosexual act being that this is destruction that bears no fruit and does not fulfill the mitzva requirement of Onah (pleasuring one’s wife).”
[To shed some light, here is the continuation of his statement]
“For the same reason, it is prohibited for a woman to marry a minor (under 13), being that it is liken to z’nus (immorality), as well as for a (young) man (who hasn’t had kids yet) to marry an old woman (who no longer can produce kids) or a (known) barren woman (such as in a case where her womb was removed).”
THIS BRINGS ME TO A CRUCIAL POINT!
In my opinion the reason why the moral populous in America has failed to uproot this immorality from the mindset of the multitude is because they have failed to clarify the true purpose of marriage! Thus, if I don’t understand the correct purpose of marriage then of course I won’t be able to understand why marriage doesn’t even come into play when regards to homosexuality.
Their claim is “If two men love each other then what is wrong with them joining together in an everlasting unison?” This question has, unfortunately, not been properly addressed. As long as it isn’t, this issue will not be resolved and in the end America will become exceedingly corrupt.
Sadly, there is not enough room here to go into the subject in details.
These are the same self centered politicians who are fighting to split up borough park into many districts in order to save his seat. Doing so will make our voices worthless.
Dov, leave us alone and go away. You and your crony askonim don’t speak for us. Shame on you. You recently endorsed a candidate that supports this To’eiva.
Shelly has long been a anti Torah advocate and our so called askonim have no shame to stand him and Dov up to speak in front of thousands at a mega event in Borough Park.
This is the liability of being Democrats. A huge part of their agenda is totally unacceptable by halacha. Like it or not, things like spilling blood (abortion) and “you know what”, are prohibited even to goyim.
If the “frum” politicians became Republicans,and the frum community shifted, it would have an impact, since there are also many socially conservative Democrats in New York who are only Democrats for historical reasons. If we started voting Republican, New York would have a credible two party system.
To cherrybim i will say it again it is not for individuals to decide when to sacrifice torah values he needs to prove that daas torah sanctions what he did and not the other way around. to often we are shortsighted and make bad judgement calls that harm yiddeshkeit because we arrogantly think we k ow better than the rabbonim. rabbi miller was very clear that as torah jews we cannot stand with people who go against torah values period
What’s wrong with Shelly allowing goyim to do what they want? He never said it’s okay for Jews to go against Torah.
* “TikunHaztot”
Ignorance it’s never such a problem if you don’t voice it. You have a lot to learn about what the Torah tells Goyim to do, and what the Jew’s roll is regarding the world.
#5,
The “whole picture” is that Sedom and its neighboring cities were destroyed because their society put its stamp of approval on these types of unnatural relationships (men would give one another a “kesuba”).
# 7,
about your first statement: If you’re in office and the noise makers and the media etc. all make it look like doing x will be good, and you happened to have clear information that it will bring a sisaster, but you don’t have the tools to demonstrate it, should you just do it and go along??? and what will a Judge say later when it comes out that you had that information???
To a true “Orthodox” Jew that is the case. and the Judge is Hashem himself…
Actually, the underlying and overriding cause for the mabul was chamas, thievery. Why is the frum community so obsessed with same gender marriage, which is a legalism for what is already a reality and not the “legalized chamas” that is so embedded in the frum world?
Answer that why don’t’cha!
cherrybim: After defending gay marriage, now you accuse the frum of being thieves?
I know it, you know it, we all know it. Do you defend it too?
The frum world has far far less thievery of any kind compared to any other group in the world. It is almost unheard of in the frum world, media blowups of rare cases notwithstanding.
“It is almost unheard of in the frum world”
Really. Then why the demand in prisons for s’farim, daf yomi, glatt kosher, etc?
Did you miss the “almost”? Also, heard of false convictions? Additionally, what percent of American felons are frum Jews and what percent of America is frum Jews? The discrepancy is humongous. Frum Jews are very very underrepresented in prisons compared to their population at large.
So then “almost” is ok? The Torah is replete with examples of national Jewish catastrophes when only a few were involved.