By an unexpectedly lopsided margin, the New York Senate voted thumbs down to gay marriage in New York, 38 no to 24 yes. Every Republican senator voted against it, as did one-quarter of Democrats.
This is a huge victory. As Brian Brown, NOM’s executive director, just said, this win “puts the nail in the coffin of the idea that gay-marriage advocates can persuade a majority of Americans their cause is just.” (Full disclosure: The National Organization for Marriage spent $600,000 in advertising, automated calling, and other voter outreach over the last few months in New York alone.)
The debate was also lopsided: a remarkable display of self-indulgence, tone-deafness and hubris on the part of gay-marriage advocates. Many senators suggested people who see marriage as a male-female union are like slave owners or segregationists. They compared themselves to Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and even Nelson Mandela. Sen. Suzie Oppenheimer upped the ante by suggesting the hate and intolerance of those of us who think marriage is the union of husband and wife is akin to the Nazism that killed her husband’s family.
This kind of disrespectful treatment of diverse views on gay marriage really needs to stop. Now. Today.