Hatred rules the day in New York

Marriage equality was voted down in New York State yesterday. I watched at work as heroic senator after heroic senator gave incredibly moving testimonials about why marriage equality ("gay marriage") should be passed. Only one senator had the guts to speak against it. Yet in the end, it wasn't even close, 38 opposed and only 24 in favor.

Here is one of the amazing courageous voices:


But somehow speeches like this one weren't enough to touch the hardened hearts of an apparent majority of politicians who love their hatred more than their constituents.

So gay people are good enough to pay these senators' salaries. Good enough to pay disproportionately high amounts of taxes that go from relatively rich downstate areas to relieve the bankrupt and backwards upstate areas. But not not enough to get the same civil rights that straight people enjoy. Not a single republican voted for the measure, and 8 democrats also opposed it, mostly from Queens here in NYC. Our corrupt republican Mayor Bloomberg -- who was just reelected with a lot of gay support -- claims to support marriage equality but gives hundreds of thousands of his own dollars to upstate republicans who oppose it is fully culpable here.

I have no plans to get married; I'm not sure it's the best choice of goals as a community. But this hurts. Hatred rules the day once more.