Elizabeth Benjamin from the New York Daily News has an article up today describing gay activist's reaction and the forming plans to respond to the failed marriage equality vote in New York last Wednesday.
The Senate Marriage Equality vote went down 24-38, eight votes short of passage. Eight Democrats voted against the bill. GLBT political activists poured over $1,000,000 into the State Senate race last cycle, in an ultimately successful bid to reclaim the house for the Democratic party.
And they are not pleased.
"It's going to be a bloodbath," one gay operative predicted. "We're going to use every single weapon in our quiver to take these people out. We either need to replace them or scare the hell out of them so they do the right thing."
The anger is palpable.
One of my own friends posted this on his Facebook status during the course of the vote:
Fucking Hiram Monseratte just voted no. Bastard asked me to hold gay fundraiser for him.
Family values advocates breathed a sigh of relief that Monserrate escaped jail time last week, for assaulting his girlfriend and slashing her face with a broken glass. It's good he's free now to continue his good work in the New York Senate protecting New Yorkers from teh gays.
I attended two post-vote rallies last week, and I'm wondering if this vote awoke a sleeping giant. I tried my best to rally troops before the vote, and found many New Yorkers sadly apathetic. But this is the town of Stonewall, one of two fronts in the Act-Up movement, which is what's striking that votes that killed the measure down were delivered mostly from the City.
At the top of the GLBT activist's hit list is Sen. Joe Addabbo. Abbaddo cites non-support in his district as his deciding factor. How then to reconcile that Assembly members who overlap his district have three times voted for marriage equality and survived re-election? Brian Lehrer of WNYC interviewed Abbaddo last week and confronted him on that, and many other issues. It's worth listening to, if only to hear a good journalist at work, asking tough questions. It's here.
You might also check out, our fierce Staten Island advocate, Sen. Diane Savino, who spoke to him last week as well. She discussed not being concerned about the vote coming back to haunt her. She didn't feel voters were single issue focused enough.
And regardless, she hammered the point she wasn't elected to be re-elected, she was elected to lead, and she wasn't going to vote against her beliefs because polling might tell her to do otherwise.
Senators Shirley Huntley and George Onorato, both of Queens, and Sen. Bill Stachowski are also mentioned as possible targets of primary.
Activists in Queens have already been rallying to draft a young, charismatic civil rights attorney, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, to take a run at Onorato's seat. Onorator is said to be contemplating retirement and there is an 800-pound gorilla that is rumored to be considering stepping up. We're waiting for the dominoes to fall from the Governor's race to see how that all shakes out.
My own take: I'm sure "bloodbath" is far more hyperbole than reality. That said, I'm glad they're energized to hold Democrats responsible.
I am pragmatic. I don't want to primary-out a moderate Democrat who's barely hanging on in a very conservative district only to send a GOPer to Albany. We need a Democratic majority to re-introduce the bill to the floor when it comes up again. Without that, there is no path. Clearly, willy-nilly picking off Democrats out of rage only to return control of the Senate to the Republicans is a strategy made of fail.
But I am strategic. The reality is, the Democratic party has been stringing along the gay vote for decades, making promises and delivering not legislation but lame excuses.
Republicans likely reneged on their promise to vote for the marriage equality bill based at least in part on their fear of being Scouzzafavaed. And though the teabaggers failed, the specter of NY-23 hung over moderate GOP Senators' heads, kept them united to their core principle of "no" to progress and change.
Only when Democrats learn to fear voting against us as much as Republicans fear voting against teabaggers will the paradigm shift. So long as Democrats don't fear voting against us, they will continue to do so.
Update 1: I wanted to provide some useful links that people interested in following this story might use to keep in touch: a good source of information is The Albany Project. They are like a state level Kos, and they seem very committed to GLBT equality there. I'd suggest keeping an eye on that blog.
As well as Marriage Equality New York of course. And The Empire State Pride Agenda, which seems to show balls and committment that the HRC does not.
I'd also keep a close eye on HRC NY, and I mean watch them, because they supported the Evil 8 in the last round and wouldn't put it past them to do so again.
Update 2: My last diary didn't make the rec list, so many people missed it, but it's very relevant. It was a great big wet kiss to the Democrats who stood up for us. So, for the record, I am both a lover and a fighter!
Update 3: LOL, thanks for the rec list, the picture is your rabble-rousing author at last week's protest rally. I just discovered it on theGay City News Front Page. I hope I struck some fear into the hearts of some our of feckless "allies."