Marriage in NY and Beyond
July 29, 2009
On Tuesday July 28, New York State Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell was the guest speaker for HRC's monthly forum Talking Queer Politics (TQP). This series is hosted every month at Therapy Bar and Lounge in Midtown Manhattan, and last night just over 40 New Yorkers showed up to hear about the state of marriage. Assemblyman O'Donnell has championed the marriage equality bill through the New York State Assembly twice; the first time was in 2007, and then in 2009 with an even wider margin of victory. The Assemblyman shared his experience of moving the bill through the Assembly the second time, and how several of his colleagues who voted no the first time came to him and said they would not be voting no a second time. "One colleague told me, "my no vote was wrong." The marriage equality bill has been put on hold because the New York State Senate changed leadership back and forth several times, but now that the Senate is functioning again everyone anticipates a vote in the fall. Everyone, including the Assemblyman, remain optimistic about the bill passing, but acknowledge that there is work to do when session begins again. When we reached the question and answer portion of the evening, the first question was about Prop 8 and how do we protect Maine. The Assemblyman gave a quick recap about where things stand for the state of California, and explained that he will be traveling to Maine as well as fundraising here in NY to help raise crucial resources for the fight in Maine. Each person wanted to know how they could do more to help with the fight in New York and in states like Maine. He impressed upon the crowd the importance to reach out to parents, grandparents, teachers, religious leaders, and ask them to speak up for marriage equality. The Assemblyman shared a story of a young man who asked his mother on Long Island to write a letter to her Senator asking him to vote YES on marriage equality. O'Donnell said that she wrote the most beautiful and moving letter he has ever read, and said that it is letters like that that change NO votes to YES votes. The New York LGBT community does not have a more vocal and unwavering leader than Assemblyman O'Donnell. His leadership in the Assembly is something we can all admire and try our best to emulate. It is an honor to have him on our side and traveling the country speaking out for equality. Also, we are pleased to announce that on Tuesday, August 25th TQP's next speaker will be City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. See you at Therapy!
