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[Nabubrush]

Gay marriage passes Senate in NY, clearing final hurdle for NY to become largest state thus far to approve it.

[pmcd9]

Yay for gay.  Just in time for Pride weekend.

[jough]

It's okay to be Takei!

[Nabubrush]

But not that bastard Koenig.

[jay-ell]

Yay!

[side_show]

But what about the monopoly the Canadian side of Niagara Falls had on this deal?  What of it?!


I kid.  Happy human rights are expanding wherever it happens.

[jay-ell]

One of my FB friends commented that he's ashamed of NY for lagging behind five other states, when they should have been leading the charge.

Ok, I'm glad that NY now has gay marriage, and therefore allows basic human rights to gay and lesbian couples. But before New Yorkers break their arms patting themselves on the back for it, just remember that you're years behind Iowa (freaking IOWA) on this. If you'd done it in the 90's like you should have then you'd have a claim on Progressivism. As it is, NY is just late to the party.

And later:

I'm reminded of Henry David Thoreau sitting in jail because he refused to pay a tax to fund the Mexican American War. When Ralph Waldo Emerson visited, he asked "Henry, why are you in here." Thoreau replied, "Ralph, the question isn't why am I in here, the question is why aren't you?" Like Emerson, NY knew better, and just didn't act.

Any thoughts on this?

[wombat]

It doesn't matter who's first, it matters that it gets done.

[pmcd9]

When you consider the fact that my lesbian New York friend pointed out to me today, that New York contains roughly 1/3 of the nations gays they are way the fuck behind the curve.

But I don't give a shit about that right now, I'm just happy that this is taking place. 

[pmcd9]

Do what's right, work as long as it takes. Being first is easy, dragging up the reluctant, that takes work.

Yeah, we can celebrate when Texas gets it's act together.

[littlefallsmets]

Having lived in California and New York for long stretches of time both, I can basically say...

Look. The idea of a ballot initative was a great idea in a different age and is probably still awesome when used on a small scale.

But allowing fuck*ng any and all laws to be swung willy-nilly by the tyranny of the mob in this day and age, in this political environment, it's just fucked up.

A little bit of indirectness in large-scale democracy isn't such a bad thing.

Cools some heads, you know, at least comparatively.

It is just not a very good idea with the way American politics works these days.

[Nabubrush]

California's just as bad, voting in constitutional amendments against it (twice) and all that gunk.

Oregon got no reason to be proud, either.

Oregon's legislation has no ceremony requirement. All marriage and civil union legislation require a ceremony, whether religious or civil, to be considered valid. In Oregon couples are only required to register their domestic partnerships through the submission of a paper form. Additionally, the Oregon statute contemplates that the domestic partnerships are only valid in the state of Oregon. All other marriage and civil union laws assume the validity of such relationships in every other jurisdiction. These changes may have been placed to avoid any conflict with the Oregon constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

[JorgeFabregas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but New York is one of the first states to do it via the legislature. That seems significant. Popular will reflected in the republican form of government vs. a legal system that protects minority rights even when the majority may oppose them.