new york attorney general
elliot spitzer has officially decided that "current law prohibits same sex weddings in new york," thus twarting
dozens of gay couples who lined up in nyc today to get marriage licenses.
this puts new palz mayor jason west behind the eight ball, so to speak. west has been marrying gay couples in new palz for about a week. according to newsday:
in the rapidly expanding national dialogue over gay marriage, the spotlight turned to new paltz last week when west married 25 gay couples during a spirited ceremony in front of village hall. spitzer said since the weddings were performed without a marriage license, west broke the law.
"i personally would like to see the law changed, but must respect the law as it now stands," spitzer said...
west was charged with 19 misdemeanor counts and could face jail time.
in new paltz town court wednesday night, west pleaded not guilty to the charges.
outside was a reprise of the hoopla that surrounded last week's wedding marathon in the small college village 75 miles north of manhattan. west was given a hero's welcome, walking into court as 200 supporters chanted, cheered and sang along to a jazz trio playing "the battle hymn of the republic." the crowd held signs like, "prosecution is persecution - go west."
state university at new paltz student mike katz held a sign likening west to nelson mandela and martin luther king.
"i think that he is a patriot and i think he's a civil rights leader," katz said. "...we're making history here."
we are of the same opinion.
there are those who believe spitzer made the decision so that interested parties can in fact challenge the constitutionality of the law in new york courts.
"i personally would like to see the law changed, but must respect the law as it now stands," spitzer said.
if we can take a moment to offer our opinion, we'd like to ponder how this issue is being framed on the screeching heads media as of late. here's the special bonus added skippy rant:
our side, the side of justice, is allowing the rightists to call this fracas part of "the culture wars." this is simply another meme designed to misdirect attention from the true nature of what's going on. it's not a "culture war." it's a "civil rights war." it's a war against civil rights. and we are getting tired of listening to joe scarborough tout a movie that a mere 1/7 of america has seen on its opening week as if it's the second coming, pun intended, while mislabeling this attempt to deny citizens of their civil rights as a mere "culture" war.
it's more about culture. it's about inalienable rights, freedom, tax payers being relegated to second class citizens, and human dignity. as long as we allow the other side to dismiss it as mere culture, and not what it really is, human rights, we risk losing.
