He said that passing the marriage bill was a “priority.” So with just one month left in the legislative session, why hasn’t New York Governor Andrew Cuomo picked up the phone yet?
Apparently, he’s a big fan of phone calls. Quoth the NY Times: “Those who have been on the receiving end marvel at how long he will stay on the line — 10 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour — and his leisurely pace, as if one of the state’s most powerful people had no more pressing matter on his plate. Invariably, he will first ask about the foot surgery or Little League game that came up during the last conversation.”
How folksy. But Gay City News reports that the tie-breaking Senators who will make or break the marriage bill still haven’t had the pleasure of a call from Cuomo. What’s he waiting for? He already said that he supports marriage equality, and we desperately need to pick up more votes, so his silence is starting to become a little scary.
The agitators at Queer Rising are pissed. “Cuomo’s support for Marriage Equality is appearing more to be a political stunt than an act of commitment to do the right thing,” says Natasha Dillon, a founding member of Queer Rising. “The Governor has not done the lobbying necessary to change votes. He had misled New Yorkers into believing that passage of marriage equality was going to happen this year and now is backtracking.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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If you’d like to try getting the Governor on the line for a little heart-to-heart of your own, go ahead and knock yourself out. His number is 212-681-4580.
jason
I wouldn’t be surprised if Andrew Cuomo has ties to right-wing Catholics. He comes across as one of these sleazy Italians who says one thing to your face and another behind your back. Don’t trust him one iota.
robert in NYC
I’m not hopeful about it passing if it comes to the floor for a vote. Dean Skelos may not allow it to get that far. More disturbing is that Mayor Bloomberg is getting negative responses from some key republicans in supporting a “yes” vote to pass marriage equality. My gut feeling says no, yet again. Cuomo apparently won’t allow it to come for a vote if those votes aren’t there in the senate. There is no way it can win without a handful of republicans supporting it. Those wealthy republican business men who support it may or may not have any influence in a positive outcome, no matter how much they fund these state republicans’ campaigns. They were all in lockstep when they voted against it in 2009. Even though public opinion is ahead of the GOP in supporting it, they’re not the party who will necessarily carry out the wishes of the people. They’re more into supporting religion-based bigotry more than anything else when it comes to equality. Nothing has changed or will change. I hope I’m wrong.
jason
Meanwhile, conservative little Iowa is more progressed on the issue of gay marriage than liberal big New York. Wonders never cease….
robert in NYC
Jason, don’t take Iowa for granted yet. NOM et al are busy in that state and want to make sure SSM is overturned and the judges who voted in support of it booted out. They have unlimited financial resources, probably funded by the Koch brothers, among others. They’ve already donated $1.5 million to opponents of SSM in our state already. Expect more to follow.
IAbuseGays
(a) Iowa is the product of judicial action, which is where this issue should be settled, in terms of protecting minority rights.
(b) Cuomo, like most Democrats and Republicans, wants to use wedge social issues to blind key bases regarding his economic policies, which are to the right of the state.
ChiGuy76
You know, I hate to sound cynical here, but I’m beginning to think that this “same-sex marriage”/”marriage equality”/”redefinition of marriage” is all one big red herring to keep the masses distracted, both conservative and liberal. Notice how we talk about all the money that goes into this campaign on both sides. However, what we don’t talk about is the “winners” in this political contest: the media. Think about it, if this issue was not such a hot button issue (or made to be), who would be buying all that premium add space on television, cable, radio, in newspapers and on the internet? Who really stands to gain the most money if this issue is dragged out for years and years? So CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the Big 3 Networks, and other cable news outlets all have a vested interest in keeping this issue alive ad nauseum. Hence, the real reason why leaders of SPLC-designated hate groups are allowed to “debate” gay issues as the “valid” opposing sides. It keeps the ad revenue from these political and social groups coming in. I bet, that if there was some kind of law or regulation in place that said all political ads-and marriage equality really would fall into that category-must have unlimited free space in the media, we would haved had marriage equality years ago.
disco lives
No worries.
I’m sure those PSA’s from Anna Wintour and Barbara W. Bush and various members of the entertainment industry will be enough to sway those working-class state senators from the outer buroughts into supporting gay marriage.
Really.
robert in NYC
ChiGuy76, actually its not a redefinition of CIVIL marriage at all. In fact, its expanding marriage to cover everyone. In a true democracy, rights are expanded not contracted. It doesn’t affect or impact straight civil marriage one iota.
Disco lives….luminaries in California donated vast sums of money to make Prop. 8 go away, but looked what happened. We have celebrities also joining in our struggle in NYS but I doubt if that will have any influence. Our adversaries have access to vast sums of unendless money, the bulk of which is probably coming from the Koch brothers, avowed opponents of equality for LGBT people who believe we deserve marginalization, much like the Tea Party scum they fund, the mob rule mentality running the GOP which will eventually be its undoing.
ChiGuy76
@robert in NYC: Robert, I know what you are saying and completely agree with you. However, that was not the point in my post. I was just using the terminology in quotes to highlight what is said on the opposing side of the marriage debate. My point is is that the news and entertainment media keep these terms alive (“same-sex marriage” and “marriage redefinition”) in order to keep the “debate” going on so that they can rake in more money from organizations who actively fight for/against what is really “marriage equality” through ad revenue. Both supporters and opponents are being bent over a barrel financially so that big media can keep their programming afloat.
Joetx
What? A supposedly pro-gay Dem doing little/nothing for the gays? Never! *sarcasm*
robert in NYC
ChiGuy76, gotcha! Sorry for any confusion, my fault. I have this uneasy feeling we’re going to see a repetition of the defeat we saw in December 2009 in our state, but I hope I’m proved wrong. At the 11th hour, the moderates often get cold feet and then vote no in lockstep with their party, their careers are far more important than the needs and rights of the people of course.
ChiGuy76
@robert in NYC: I don’t doubt you Robert. This seems to be the standard MO in the New York General Assembly. I’m a little surprised that our General Assembly in Illinois passed the Civil Unions Law. It did it even with a fair amount of Republican and Religious support. My own Republican representative even voted in favor of it and was signed into law by our very Roman Catholic Governor. But good luck in New York. This will still be a tough fight.
robert in NYC
Yes, ChiGuy75, its surprising isn’t it? Take Spain and Portugal, Argentina, even Belgium, all catholic countries but then all of them had “socialist” governments when legislation was enacted. It will indeed be a tough fight in our state, no question about it. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised if it does get through, assuming it will come for a vote this session.