Just a week after Gov. Cuomo praised the Legislature for passing “historic” ethics-reform legislation, state senators opposed to enacting a “historic” same-sex marriage law are being courted with promises of political cover, endorsements and (psst!) campaign cash: Make marriage equality happen and (wink, wink, nod, nod) we’ll take care of our friends.
Open, transparent government is a wonder to behold.
Imagine, for a moment, if the oil and gas industry engaged in similar tactics to obtain hydrofracking rights in the economically depressed Southern Tier. Or if the NRA promised “support” to key legislators on some rollback of gun control. On planet Albany, one man’s special interest is another man’s constituency.
The media, meanwhile, need good guys and bad guys to tell a compelling story — and the good guys always win, because they write the narrative.
Same-sex marriage versus marriage equality — same issue but quite different connotations: Is it an aberration or a civil right? The narrative seemingly writes itself.
Marriage equality will spawn years of costly litigation, not only for religious groups and individuals, but for small businesses owned by conscientious objectors across the state. Passage of the same-sex-marriage bill won’t end this debate, it will just begin it.
Framing it as a civil-rights issue conjures images of protesters set upon by snarling dogs, fire hoses and baton-wielding policemen. But equating the quiet dignity of black civil-rights demonstrators carrying “I AM A MAN” signs with gay-rights activists cavorting down Christopher Street proclaiming, “I’m Queer and I’m Here” stretches credulity.
Almost 60 years ago, Jim Crow laws and racial oppression systematically denied black Americans the free exercise of our political and economic freedoms. No matter their race, color or creed, lesbian and gay Americans (and those foreign-born) are found in every profession and at every social stratum.
In New York, our state and city human-rights laws provide protections and remedies against discrimination. Hate-crime laws severely punish those who viciously prey upon the gay community.
The same-sex-marriage movement is not nobly about obtaining a long-denied civil right. It’s about settling old scores against religious leaders, institutions, parents and the greatest villains of all-time — “straight white men of privilege.”
Yes, it’s true. When my former colleague Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell bellowed that epithet, I finally understood why so much money, passion and vehemence are involved: Privileged gay white men (and women) want to be the absolute equals of their wealthy straight brethren.
If, after all, money can’t buy equality, then it can buy happiness by buying the politicians.
Michael Benjamin retired from the Assembly last year after eight years representing a Bronx dis trict.