NYC Mayor Speaks to Marriage Equality

A veritable Pride parade of New Yorkers has spoken up and spoken out for marriage equality in the state, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a strong supporter of legal parity for gay and lesbian families. But one of the luminaries who has lent his voice in the past to the issue spoke once more on May 26: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"The New York City mayor has been a vocal supporter of legalizing same-sex marriage," the Associated Press reported in advance of the speech. "He visited Albany earlier this month to lobby state lawmakers who are considering the issue. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is gay, accompanied him."

Calling Bloomberg's speech "uncharacteristically forceful and sweeping," the New York Times reported in a May 26 article that the mayor had declared "near equality is no equality," and exhorted the state's lawmakers to "lead the American journey forward" by granting marriage rights to all New Yorkers.

Bloomberg recalled how New Yorkers struck the first blow in the modern civil rights movement when gays, long oppressed by the law and society, rose up outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969, and suggested that the time for an equally important step forward had arrived.

"[I can] see the pain that the status quo is causing--and I cannot defend it," Bloomberg said. "We are the freest city in the freest country in the world--but freedom is not frozen in time."

The Times noted that Bloomberg's openly gay niece Rachel Tiven introduced him to the audience at Cooper Union, a Manhattan venue that the article noted had been established by a prominent abolitionist during the slavery era.

"It was an unusually personal address from a mayor known for dispassionate number crunching and policy analysis," the Times noted, "In his speech, he said that he had grown tired of trying to explain to gay friends, relatives, and staff members why the government is denying them the right to wed."

"I cannot tell them that marriage is not for them," Bloomberg told his listeners. The mayor has, however, spoken out in support of marriage equality a number of times recently, the article said. Among other things, Bloomberg appeared in one of the "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" videos that the Human Rights Campaign produces. The videos have featured a number of leaders, performers, and athletes.

In his Cooper Union speech, Bloomberg called for state lawmakers to address the issue by voting on it before the end of the current session in June. The New York State Assembly has passed legislation to grant marriage rights to same-sex families on numerous occasions, whereas the State Senate has voted on the issue only once, in late 2009, when lawmakers in that chamber--including some Democrats who had earlier voiced support for the marriage equality--scuttled the measure.

Gov. Cuomo has called for marriage equality this year, but modified that position in the face of a coordinated counter-response by anti-gay groups, including the National Organization for Marriage, which has vowed to fund opponents of any Republican New York state legislators who vote for a marriage equality bill. Cuomo now saw that he will not pursue a vote on the matter until he can be confident that it would have the support needed to pass.

Cuomo, too, has contributed a video to the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality series.

Moreover, anti-gay lawmakers have sought to sew up a preemptive legal victory by closing a loophole that allows gay and lesbian families to marry elsewhere and then return to, or move to, New York, which has a policy of honoring same-sex marriages granted elsewhere.

But there are signs that lawmakers--some of them, at least--may be prepared to grant same-sex families marriage parity, at least on the state level. (Though same-sex couples may legally marry in five states currently, the anti-gay 1996 "Defense of Marriage" Act (DOMA) denies them any federal recognition.)

"In his speech, Mr. Bloomberg seemed at times to be speaking directly to the handful of lawmakers, most of them Republican state senators, whose vote will prove decisive on the issue this legislative session," the New York Times article said.

One GOP state legislator who pro-marriage advocates hope may be considering a yes vote on a marriage bill is State Sen. Jim Alesi, who recently attended a function hosted by GLBT advocacy group Empire State Pride Agenda. In 2009, no Republicans voted for marriage in the state senate, but pro-marriage activists hope to see that change.

"On matters of freedom and equality, history has not remembered obstructionists kindly," Bloomberg recalled. "Not on abolition. Not on women's suffrage. Not on workers' rights. Not on civil rights. And it will be no different on marriage rights."

Marriage Freedom a Conservative Value

Bloomberg added that conservatives "believe that government should not stand in the way of free markets and private associations--including contracts between consenting parties," adding, "And that's exactly what marriage is: A contract, a legal bond, between two adults who vow to support one another, in sickness and in health."

Bloomberg went on to remind the audience that granting civil marriage rights to gay and lesbian families would not, as some have claimed, infringe upon religious liberties, since the measure that both Cuomo and the state's pro-marriage lawmakers wish to see enacted would stop short of compelling churches from providing marriage services to couples they did not wish to serve. Such parsing of religious and civic life is very much a daily part of the fabric of public life, the mayor noted.

"As private individuals, we may be part of a faith community that forbids divorce or birth control or alcohol," Bloomberg said. "But as public citizens, we do not impose those prohibitions on society."

Moreover, Bloomberg said, marriage equality would be "a force for stability in families and communities, because it fosters responsibility."

Anti-gay activists have insisted that sexual minorities are incapable of commitment, and are therefore not deserving of legal entitlement to marriage. They have also claimed that gays and lesbians "choose" their sexual orientation and could become heterosexual if they wanted. Another myth propagated by anti-gay organizations is that gays only want marriage rights for the financial incentives--ignoring the fact that many heterosexuals take advantage of those same incentives by marrying.

"They want desperately to be married," Bloomberg noted of gay and lesbian families. "Not for the piece of paper they will get. Not for the ceremony or the reception or the wedding cake. But for the recognition that the lifelong commitment they have made to each other is not less than anyone else's, not second class in any way."

Bloomberg is among a number of high-profile conservative New Yorkers who have contributed money to the cause of marriage equality. Bloomberg has given $100,000 to New Yorkers United for Marriage, a coalition of pro-GLBT equality groups that formed recently as part of an overall streamlining of the state's marriage proponents.

The support of business leaders who ordinarily bankroll Republican causes is not so very surprising, given that those leaders tend to agree with Bloomberg's statements about limited government and personal responsibility.

Bloomberg has lent his support in other ways, lobbying state lawmakers and organizing a fundraiser at his home.

New Yorkers United for Marriage Equality praised Bloomberg's speech in a press release issued the same day.

"As somebody who has worked for and known Mayor Bloomberg personally for many years, I know first-?hand not only how important this issue is to him, but how committed he is to seeing that all loving couples are able to marry," the Human Rights Campaign's Brian Ellner said in the release. "With the steadfast support of the mayor, Gov. Cuomo and a solid majority of New Yorkers, we're confident that marriage equality will be the law of the land come the end of June."

"The people of New York City can count on knowing exactly where their mayor stands on issues--and Mayor Bloomberg has been an outspoken supporter for opening marriage in New York to loving, committed lesbian and gay couples," Ross D. Levi the head of Empire State Pride Agenda, stated.

"We appreciate that the Mayor has travelled to Albany to speak directly with the legislators, has made a personal financial commitment to support this effort, and is yet again publicly renewing his commitment to marriage equality," Levi added.

"Mayor Bloomberg's strong support for marriage equality legislation adds to the long list of elected officials across party lines who have called on legislators to give all loving and committed couples the ability to marry," noted Log Cabin Republicans of New York State chair Gregory T. Angelo.

With polls showing a strong majority of New Yorkers supporting marriage equality, we are hopeful that Mayor Bloomberg's statements will encourage Republicans--and all New York legislators--to be on the right side of history next month."

"Loving and committed same-?sex couples have waited long enough for the freedom to marry the person they love," declared Marriage Equality New York's Cathy Marino-?Thomas. "Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo have shown great leadership on this issue, and with their help, we hope the wait is almost over."

"Recent polls have consistently shown that a super-?majority of New Yorkers agree with Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo that every New Yorker in a loving and committed couple should have the freedom to marry the person they love," the president and founder or Freedom to Marry, Evan Wolfson, said. "It is time that legislators in Albany do the right--and popular--thing and make this a reality."