The state senator for Nyack has told the Journal News that he will vote against pending gay marriage legislation in New York State. Senator Thomas Morahan, whose district includes Nyack, Orangetown and Clarkstown, is a six term republican senator from New City first elected in 1999.
In a poll conducted by the NY1 NYC newschannel last month, Morahan’s was one of only for state senators who wouldn’t say how they would vote.
Morahan told the Journal News yesterday that after listening to his constituents in Rockland and Orange Counties he understands both sides and prefers civil unions instead of marriage for gay couples. “Maybe I’m a traditionalist,” Morahan said.
Morahan made the announcement on July 1 at the beginning of the Independence Day holiday. In addition to the current distractions provided by the rancor in the state senate, making controversial announcements prior to a holiday weekends is a favorite tactic of politicans and public relations consultants due to lower news readership during holiday weekends.
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finandted says:
Sen. Morahan, please reconsider your decision and end the discrimination in New York.
Please extend equal rights to marry to gay couples.
As a partner in a straight marriage I am mystified by other married people who are threatened by gay marriage. It concerns me that my many gay friends who cannot now legally marry in the state in which they work, own property, pay school taxes and vote may well find themselves locked out of a partners hospital room in an emergency. My husband and I wouldn’t settle for the second class status of a civil union. Why should any of my gay friends do so?
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Nyack News and Views » “Tradition” And Gay Marriage says:
[...] State Senator Morahan Says No To Gay Marriage [...]
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:04 am
JC Brotherhood says:
Sen. Morahan:
Please remember you pledged an oath to uphold our Constitution.
This document includes the 14th Amendment which guarantees equal protection under the law.
Your vote, based upon your personal feelings puts you at odds with your solemn oath.
Shame on you sir.
July 5th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
stevebret says:
Senator Morahan has attentively listened to our divided community and reached a decision to heal that divide by “accommodating both sides” and voting against marriage equality. Permit me to phrase that another way: Senator Morahan supports “Marriage Inequality.”
Too harsh? Let’s see. Senator Morahan’s “separate but equal” rationale is built on this logic: civil unions provide equal rights for same-sex partners. Well, do couples get a choice… marriage license or civil union application? No, it is determined for them. How? Randomly? Day of the week? Eye color? No, someone decides based on a certain condition codified in law—and that condition is gender combination. Would the Senator support civil unions if the criteria were based on race, ethnicity or national origin? If he believes there is no “downside” to civil unions will he trade in his marriage certificate for a civil union decree? I don’t think so.
What the Senator won’t admit is that he does understand the inequality of civil unions and his archaic rational is a clumsy effort to walk a fine line of credibility with his constituents. However, on the long march of social evolution toward justice and equality Senator Thomas P. Morahan has stumbled over his own feet and will be left behind in a cloud of dust.
—Steve Bretschneider, Nyack
July 6th, 2009 at 11:25 am