Republican New York State Senator and recent marriage equality hero James Alesi gave a riveting speech at a rally in Albany today, introducing himself with a nod to none other than Lady Gaga.
Alesi proudly declared, "I’m a Republican — I was born that way!"
As the first Republican Senator to publically support the pending marriage equality bill in New York, Alesi noted in his speech that he “lost what I thought were a lot of good friends, people that supported me,” but remains “committed to giving people that live in America what every American wants.”
Amidst cheers from the crowd, Alesi remarked “I think I have some new friends.” He considers his vote for marriage equality “the most important thing I think I can do in my 20-year career as a legislator.”
— By Harry Grabow
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Hooray for everyone. Living equally protected, under the law, is the home stretch for everyone.
Senator Alesi--
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Jim Alesi really invited this Lady Gaga mashup upon himself:
Senator Ball said a strange thing. His religion strongly condemns homosexuals, therefore that gives him the right to deny gay people the same rights as straights, e.g. pensions they have paid into, and marriage. The constitution guarantees freedom of religion. This means no religion may use force to impose its religious beliefs on others. In particular, Christians are not permitted to impose their superstitions about gays on gays. So far, the courts have failed to enforce the constitution. Polls are irrelevant when it comes to civil rights.
There is great scrambling to ensure New York churches may continue to spew hate speech, and exclude gays. That is probably their right. It was also their right to exclude blacks from church during the time of desegregation. However in secular life discrimination has to go. Christianity is no excuse. Neither is it a valid excuse for treating blacks badly. In a decade or so the churches that continue to harass gays will look as backward as those that refused blacks into the congregation.