Assemblywoman Nolan (Photo: NYSassembly.gov)
June 27, 2011 By Christian Murray
Voters within the Sunnyside, Woodside and Western Queens districts played a major role in the passage of the Senate Marriage Equality Bill, according to Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan yesterday.
Nolan, a long-time supporter of gay marriage and LGBT causes, said that when this district’s two local senators voted in favor of the bill on Friday night, their votes were vital. In 2009, when the bill came up for a vote, the two senators who represented this region “opposed” it.
The Marriage Equality Bill cleared the Republican-controlled Senate (33-29), which was its biggest hurdle before it could become law, since the state Assembly and Gov. Andrew Cuomo were staunch supporters of it.
On Friday, Sunnyside’s 2009 “no” votes changed to “yes”. Mike Gianaris, who was elected as the new Democratic state senator for the Sunnyside/Woodside neighborhoods in 2010, voted for the bill. He came to office in 2011 pledging his support for it.
Gianaris took the senate spot, Nolan said, from long-time state senator George Onaroto, who voted against it in 2009. “Therefore, one senatorial vote was flipped in the area,” Nolan said.
Gianaris in a statement, released over the weekend, said: “I am proud to be one of the “yes” votes that made marriage equality a reality in our state. May our example set the tone for the rest of the country.”
Nolan said that when Sen. Joe Addabbo, who represents a sliver of Sunnyside, decided at the eleventh hour to vote in favor of the bill, it too made a big impact.
Addabbo reportedly said that in 2009, when he voted against the bill, 73 percent of the constituents who contacted his office opposed gay marriage, while this year about 80 percent asked him to vote in favor of it.
Nolan said that constituents’ views of the gay community had clearly changed in Western Queens in recent years, evidenced by the election of Jimmy Van Bramer, an openly gay councilman.
Van Bramer said today that the bill would not have passed if it weren’t for the votes of Gianaris and Addabbo. “It’s just the numbers. Take those votes away and it would have been a tie (31-31).”
He had high praise for Addabbo for his “courageous act” by changing his stance on the bill, and was complimentary of Nolan’s long-time support on this issue.
Van Bramer said in a statement on Friday: “Today has been a day when our greatest ideals were on display – ideals like ‘liberty and justice for all’. This struggle has been long, and change is always difficult. We are proud that New York has debated this issue in an atmosphere of respect.”
Nolan said she had been a supporter of the bill in the state Assembly for over a decade. She said that she is looking forward to seeing her gay friends get married, and hopes that those who opposed the bill will begin to support it over time.
Meanwhile, Van Bramer, who has been in a relationship with Dan Hendrick for 12 years, was coy as to when he would tie the knot. “We’ve discussed it for a long time in anticipation of this great day…it’s probably not going to be until 2012.”
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Please note;
The idea behind this site is to bring people together for a constructive discussion about newsworthy topics. People should be free to express their ideas– no matter how strongly they hold them.
However, picking on the way people look doesn’t help the community and is unfair. Therefore in the future I’m going to have to edit these…as much as I don’t like having to take a heavy hand.
Christian
Bitchy and Holier, I could see how, looking at a photo of Cathy Nolan, a guy could turn gay! Honestly!
@Queens is…
Where do you see in any of my comments advocating for violence against homosexuals just for being gay?
If violence against gay people is your cause, may I suggest looking at how they are treated in Islamic countries, where it’s routine, on a large scale and government sanctioned. Yes, there are instances of it here too, but thankfully rare and against the law, even if one is too many.
I too would like to read Raquel’s screed I mean blog.
By the way, what about people who don’t believe in God? Or maybe have another religion all together? Should they be allowed to get married?
Raquel, what is your blog? I totes wanna read it, for sure.
I have my own blog, thanks for asking! And again, it appears to some people that if you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, that you must be a bigot. That is false: many of us love our neighbors but that does not mean that we approve of certain behavior. The Christian bashing on this thread reflects on the people doing the bashing. You can believe in the essence of Judaism/Christianity and the ethical teaching without being a “hateful” person and without actually practicing either religion. I am seeing a lot of hatred towards people who believe in the Judeo-Christian ethic.
i’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints!!
I want Raquel to please start her own blog. It would be something special.
Sorry but it’s one thing for the church to deem homosexuality a “sin” and another thing for people to commit violent offenses against homosexuals in the name of God/religion. Fu@k the sin, and fu@k the sinner too. If the church doesn’t want to recognize or take party in the matrimonial cermonies of homosexuals, that’s fine. I’m an atheist and the government would recognize my marriage to my girlfriend if we were to wed? What’s the conflict here for the same being for homosexuals? We should make divorce illegal.
If the government wants to recognize same sex marriages, that’s one thing. But just as Catholic hospitals are being pressured into performing abortions against their faith and conscience, I’m afraid churches will be pressured similarly, or lose their tax-exempt status or get hit with hate crime charges etc… We can all wait and see on that.
In some countries such as Canada and Sweden a priest or minister risks arrest if he criticizes homosexuality. Quoting Leviticus is also considered “hateful” and can get you in trouble in some places.
If you really want to be tolerant, tolerate the fact that there are people who consider homosexuality a sin. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
Hey, it’s my goat! If anyone has any designs on Billy it’ll be me. Thank you very much.
I rest my case.
Queens is the New: you do not even know how to read – and you sure don’t have any logic! You just are another weirdo who has moved to Sunnyside. Enjoy your view of Manhattan!
Raquel, you have foolishly contradicted yourself post after post. Multiple people have used basic logic and knowledge to show how absurd everything you type here is ridiculous.
Queens is the New whatever: you don’t know what you are talking about. And I hope you don’t try to marry your goat.
This has been, by far, the most entertaining thread in the history of Sunnyside Post.
Yes backlash from bigots and homophobes alike. And thank you Holier Than Thou for pointing out what I mentioned earlier. Just because something is done out of tradition doesn’t make it “right”.
I received two cows and a goat. It was tough the first few years as we lived in a studio apartment.
Holier than Thou, I guess you had to pay for it! I predict there will be backlash against gay “marriage” in this state.
Ahhh Tradition!
At three I started Hebrew school
At ten I learned a trade
I hear they picked a bride for me
I hope… she’s pretty
(All)
The sons, the sons… tradition
The sons, the sons… tradition
Tzeitel: But Mama, the men she finds. The last one was so old and he was bald. He had no hair.
Golde: A poor girl without a dowry can’t be so particular. You want hair, marry a monkey.
What was your dowry Raquel?
Example of a silly comment that attacks people: “Liberals have no ideas”
“we fight for the rights of the libs on this thread to be as obnoxious, stupid and intolerant as they wish”
“all you liberal BIGOTS”
–Raquel
What irks me is when people pretend to know the will of God and then impose it upon others.
Since we’re throwing around definitions:
Fascists seek to purge forces, ideas, and systems deemed by them to be the cause of decadence and degeneration and produce their nation’s rebirth based on commitment to the national community based on organic unity where individuals are bound together by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood.
“only attacks on our cultures which is being destroyed by irresponsible people who hate the Judeo Christian ethic” -Raquel
These people do not hate the Judeo-Christian ethic, but you seem to hate them.
For someone who claims their family has fought for the freedoms of others you don’t seem to be very tolerant of others’ choices. Fighting doesn’t have to be done with guns – it can be done with defending people’s choices with words too.
When you say something like “liberals have no ideas…are obnoxious, stupid & intolerant…are BIGOTs” then you’re going against what your family claims to fight for.
Nope. The future does not belong to traditionalists. One state at a time.
Yes, and I mean, specifically, some of the silly comments on this thread attacking anybody who believes that marriage is between a man and a woman – and always will be!
Liberals have no ideas – only attacks on our cultures which is being destroyed by irresponsible people who hate the Judeo Christian ethic.
I haven’t yet, Roger–which is why I didn’t comment on it. But, I have been invited to meet with some Islamic leaders–and I will ask them their views. It may take a while; we are dealing with serious medical issues at my house; but we’ll get it done before too much more time passes.
Thank you, BTW.
Just out of curiosity, since we have many Muslim fellow Sunnysiders, I was wondering what their views on gay marriage are. Have any of the local politicians sought out the views of any local imams for example?
It is your right to carry out your Judeo-Christian beliefs. So like Krissi said, do not marry a gay person. However, we are all not Christians, therefore Christian doctrine does not apply to the laws of the land. Not all things regarded as tradition are right either.
@John K Wilson
Well stated.
If local voters had any sense, other than the pavlovian reflex to vote democrat, you would have been in office now.
It is called the Judeo Christian tradition as well as respect for traditional families. The bigots are the ones who will not allow me – or people such as Bishop DiMarzio or Archbishop Dolan to lobby on behalf of our beliefs just as gay rights groups lobby on behalf of theirs! Opposing gay marriage does not “Devalue the rights of gays”. This is about WRONGS, not about rights. Do not put “gay marriage” in the category of people of color who have suffered terrible injustice as well as discrimination. Thank you. And by the way: in my family we are all police/military – we fight for the rights of the libs on this thread to be as obnoxious, stupid and intolerant as they wish – because this is the USA. fortunately for the libs on this thread, there are still military families in the USA who defend their rights.
big·ot
[big-uht] Show IPA
–noun
A person who is obstinantly or intolerantly devoted to his or her personal opinions and prejudices; ESPECIALLY one who regards or treats members of a group with hatred and intolerance (from the Merriam – Webster Dictionary)
Raquel and everyone else is welcome to discuss and to PRACTICE their beliefs that same sex marriage is immoral because we live in a great and free country. We welcome you to practice what your beliefs are and NOT marry gay people! You may get some disagreement (if we all agreed it wouldn’t be a free country), but no one is not allowing you to live by your own personal beliefs. Therefore, no one on this board is bigotted against you nor can you even argue that.
However, please tell me how you are not someone who fits the above criteria for a bigot? You are using your personal beliefs to limit and devalue the rights of gays.
@ Raquel
OK then. Please answer me these 2 questions:
1. Why do you personally oppose same sex marriage?
2. If you do not see being anti-same sex marriage as bigotry or homophobic, what do you see it as?
I sure hope Nolan will not appear in the tv show “Girls”.
“Racist, bigot, homophobe” – clap your hands and count to three! All the lefties can do is name call. Anybody who DARES – DARES – to disagree with them is labelled a bigot. The wonderful book LIBERAL FASCISM sums them up very well. Now, all you liberal BIGOTS, go and make some arrests for cigarette smoking on the beach. That would be a great use of your free “time”.
Oh, I forgot: it was the REPUBLICAN SENATE which passed this law. Remember that.
Sartke,
Keep Party politics out of this, my friend. Most Republicans I know have no problem with “secular” gay marriage–which is a function of the State. “Holy” marriage–which is a function of the Church(s…and/or Jewish Congregations) is beyond the reach of the State. Some few people, I have heard, have a problem with the word, “marriage”; but, a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. Whatever you call it, there are certain benefits–according to the State–to individuals who are married. To the extent that Gay people are excluded from these benefits, simply because of how God made them, it is discrimination. So, had I been in the Assembly, I would have voted for this bill.
The only arguments I have heard against Gay marriage are religious-based. I believe there is something in the Bible about “rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s; and rendering unto God that which is God’s.” But, again, the various Religions can–and probably will–withhold their approval from this New York State sanctioned “secular” marriage; and there is nothing anyone can do about that. There was even particular language written into this law which protects Churches from having to do what they (the Churches) don’t approve of, and don’t want to do. So, theology aside, I don’t get the problem with this law. What two men or two women want to do, elsewhere in this State, does not weaken–or strengthen–or have any effect whatsoever on my marriage to Tanja. And, if it makes people happy to call their commitment (secular) “marriage”…well… that’s just fine.
If you oppose Gay Marriage, then I strongly advise you not to marry some one of your own gender. Problem solved.
But, Sartke, Intolerant Republicans?! There is NO intolerance as total as the intolerance of the Left. And, with all due respect, YOU, Sartke, shouldn’t call ANYONE “obnoxious”.
However, I do love you, Sartke; you do amuse me. And, every now and then, you write something here worth reading.
Congratulations, Darron! Hooray for us all.
I’ve never been so proud to be a New Yorker.
Hey sattke take a stress pill. this web site is fantastic for comeents both good and bad. You yourself have your opinions as well.We all live a wonderful commuity that speaks well of itself. Put a smile on your face and take a deep breath.
I don’t understand why so many people have an issue with gay marriage. It doesn’t affect my life in any way. And if a couple of gay guys want to hold hands on the street…I dont care .
There are a few intolerant and obnoxious Republicans on this site, they post frequently. I’m fairly confident that they have minority views as far as Sunnyside Post’s readership goes, and I’m entirely confident that they have minority views as far as Sunnyside itself goes.
How about that, Sunnyside Post has been hijacked by readers of another “esteemed” paper, the New York Post. Maybe you homophobes got the two sites confused? By the way, lived in Chicago for 8 years, NYC for 5 plus — and I have to say, never have I seen a city as filled with racist homophobic nutjobs as this one.
For those of you enjoying the anonymity of this board, be warned, God knows what you are up to, I can assure you.
How about that, Sunnyside Post has been hijacked by readers of another “esteemed” paper, the New York Post. Maybe you homophobes got the two sites confused? By the way, lived in Chicago for 8 years, NYC for 5 plus — and I have to say, never have I seen a city as filled with racist homophobic nutjobs as this one.
For those of you enjoying the anonymity of this board, be warned, God knows the shit you are up to, I can assure you.
Thank you, to these 2 posters. I needed that laugh today.
Jesus H. Christ
• 6:09 pm
Where is the love?
Sunny Blue
• 6:16 pm
Hey, how about that new awning over at Met Foods?
Dear Paved with good intentions, I have spent over 30 years in sales and marketing. I would love to see our town doing better with no stores closing. I know I have alot of good ideas. But I will develope them slowly. What idea do you llike the best? NO I donot have deep pockets but I do have a marketing brain. I would love to have a think tank like an incubator for new business tocome here and develope new ideas for new business. To train, to teach to monitor it to sponsor it. That is what we need here in my opinion.
Meanwhile, my partner of 20 years and I celebrate that we can get married if we want to. Hooray for us.
@Sunnysider
You have a lot of ideas for local businesses. How much of your own money are you planning to invest (and risk) in establishing some of them?
Heterosexual marriage is such a crock… so many cheaters. We should ban marriage completely. Everyone is a hypocrite.
The US way, the Constitution, this Democracy, says that people have equal protection under the law; separation of church and state.
I can respect your religious views until the cows come home (if this was Utah, that would mean respecting polygamy) but the state can’t discriminate.
@Queens is the new brooklyn
John Adams did not own slaves.
Slavery wasn’t even what I had in mind when I posted… it was the Alien and Sedition acts. An awful bit of our history, which discredits Adams when it comes to civil liberties.
Which, as pertaining to this argument is neither here nor there. It just irks me when people quote a founder as if it is scripture. The nation was founded by brilliant men, in an era dominated by reason and compromise… but they were men, and flawed as such.
What we should take from them is that spirit of compromise, and of tolerance. I think the legislation that is the topic of conversation here is a perfect example of it.
why do we need a justice of the peace in sunnyside. all the couples have to do is to go to city hall or one of the courthouses to get married. how much business do you think a catering hall will make. the sunnyside/woodside area is not what it used to be.
Dear angus Grieve Smith, thanks for the kind words.
We need to have a gay rights parade over the summer to celebrate our paradse history and to celebrate this new law.
We need a justice of the peace in our town for the new weddngs we are going to have. We need to maket this new law we can make alot of money in our town. We need a catering hall and travel agents to book special honeymoons. We have to ability to make some moeny here.
Even his and his sweathhirsts and sweat pants.
Angus what do you think. /Even the menues in the restaruants could make moneyon this. I am being serious not sarcastic. You and I could start a webiste for this alone and give profits toour town here.
@David Brown
He did try his best to get slavery abolished at a time that was not a very popular position. That should count for something.
Yeah…a slave owning man is supposed be an example of morality. HA!
Paved: John Adams is a truly terrible choice when looking for guidance on a civil liberties issue.
Ok, in a gay wedding ceremony who decides which of the men wears the dress? Now that gay marriage is here, a lot of people will want to bone up on gay marriage etiquette.
Actually same-sex marriage has been around longer than you think, just look here….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McXJIyuP5h0
Here is a helpful pie chart:
http://pre.cloudfront.goodinc.com/posts/full_1303407929gaymarriagelegal.jpg
Krissi is the only sensible one here!
What you perceive to be moral decay, others see as progress. What you see as sin others don’t. What you see as pleasure others see as sin. Marriage is not essential to human survival, only sexual intercourse. Marriage and having children have nothing to do with one another. Unmarried couples stay together forever and raise families. Married couples never reproduce. Sorry but allowing homosexuals to marry doesnt pose any threat to our survial as a species. That is illogical conservative propaganda. And gay couples raising gay children went out the window the second offspring were coming out of the closet to their straight parents.
@Queens is..
“If marriage was so sacred, then why does it have a 50% failure rate?”
That’s a symptom of the general social and moral decay of the last 40-50 years. Decadent, hedonistic societies can’t stand very long. This also applies to the mind-boggling corruption we now see in government and in business. We are fast heading to go over a very steep cliff in many ways.
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams – signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our second President.
Hey, how about that new awning over at Met Foods?
Where is the love?
Just pointing out the logical fallacy in our religious zealot neighbors’ defense of being anti-gay.
There’s no point in arguing… particularly about theology on a neighborhood board, lol!
If marriage was soley a religious institution, I could see respecting the church’s hateful and bigot stance towards homosexuals. HOWEVER, since we live in a society where an atheist such as myself could marry inside or outside of a church and then get a divorce, I see no “sanctity of marriage” here. Redefining marriage? Nobody has redefined the term more than straight people. Divorce, pre-nups, annulments, etc. If marriage was so sacred, then why does it have a 50% failure rate? THE FUTURE DOES NOT BELONG TO CONSERVATIVES. New York was a very large domino in the bigger picture here for equal, civil rights.
@Queens is….
That’s your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it.
@Raquel
You are a hateful person.
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?”
– Epicurus
Yeah, good one. Many things have been here way before me. And what exactly does that prove? There is no St. Peter. When we die, it will be like before you were born. Remember when George Washington made his first speech as president? Yeah me neither. I’m pretty sure thats what death is.
@Queens is the new….
Trash the Bible all you want, it’s been around a lot longer than you and will be here long after St. Peter points you to the down elevator.
“Look closely at Nolan’s photo:…”
I’d rather not, thank you.
Look closely at Nolan’s photo: that is Rosie O’Donnell!
Judeo-Christian tradition…exactly what it is, a tradition. It is not rooted in truth or wisdom. The bible has so many contradictions in it that I cannot believe people actually think that’s “god’s voice”. Truly amazing. The future does not belong to conservatives or conservative thinking so if it makes you feel better to think that sky daddy is up there watching over ya, more power to you and your delusions.
@Angus
“I would love it if we changed the arch to “Sodomyside”! I would so put it on my business cards.”
Feel free to put it wherever you like.
I would love it if we changed the arch to “Sodomyside”! I would so put it on my business cards.
“Sunnysider,” I’m glad you support gay marriage. If you had ever watched the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade you would know that “seeking gay rights” is only a small part of it. It’s a celebration of community and of our Irish heritage, and of the inclusive, welcoming spirit of our neighborhood of immigrants. The size of the gulf between what I see and hear on the first Sunday in March and what some people imagine is pretty amazing.
Roger – you first!
That’s right, folks: anybody who dares stand up for the Judeo-Christian tradition must be a “bigot” or a “homophobe”. Now, can that stupid St. Pat’s Day parade in Sunnyside come to an end?
Raquel why don’t you take your anger elsewhere. Why don’t you leave…I would prefer Justin and his viewpoint over your narrow little mind any day.
It will be a criminal offense pretty soon to say anything a gay person doesn’t want to hear.
Justin, feel free to leave and live with “like minded” individuals since so many of us believe that marriage is between a MAN AND A WOMAN. And now, let the name calling begin: “Racist, bigot, blahblahblah’. You are so boring and have no ideas!
You are mindless sheep if you think being gay is wrong simply because it’s written in the Bible. Try thinking for yourself and not what some book or priest tells you.
Be sick of it all you want…the proof is in the pudding and the voting record. Conservatives take a position of opression. I’m sorry you’re so hateful you can’t even see or realize how being anti-gay is bigotry.
I guess we are no longer going to have our St. Pat Parade seeking gay rights now that we are all equal to be married.
Congrats to our state, our city, our town. also revenue is going to pick up in a very big way. all the insurance companies, we are going to have a surge of money comming in from this new gay rights law.
Congrats to our senators and assembly and gov for stepping foward.
I guess it is time for them to have rights. Let’s be happy for them, if you can.
I’m getting really sick and tired of liberals calling anyone who objects to their agenda as haters, bigots, racists, homophobes etc. Can’t any of you have a courteous and intelligent discussion without name calling and insults?
This makes me so proud to live in Woodside. Hooray for Senators Gianaris and Addabbo! Love truly does conquer all.
Judaism and Christianity are plagiarized mythologies based on older religions of ancient Sumeria. And most likely the Sumerian religion was based on the ancient civilizations’ first contact with extra-terrestrial life that they perceived to be “divine.”
Can we change the arch on 46st to “Sodomyside.” ?
This is great coverage! What a historic event. Makes me proud to be a Sunnysider and happy that our kids will grow up in a community that supports fairness and equal rights.
Markey brags about being a “eucharistic minister” – her church should but a stop to that since she dishonors the Sacraments.
i moved here with my family a year and a half ago in large part because this is such a diverse community. it saddens and offends me to see it tainted by intolerance and bigotry of the sort Rocky II and Raquel espousing.
I would like to thank Cathy, Jimmy and Mike for making this happen.
Allow-me-to retort you are correct! The Sacraments should be denied to Nolan, Markey, et al. Note to “Conrad” – Christians and Jews are used to being sacrificed, thrown to the lions, persecuted, etc. by people who do not believe in God’s promises.
Mark my words, in a few years, there will be a push to force churches to go against their beliefs and perform same-sex weddings.
I’m so glad to be living in a community that respects and honors all its members equally, and values humanity over dogma. I’m really proud that we have representatives like Cathy, Mike Gianaris and Marge Markey who bring that respect, equality and humanity to Albany!
Note to RockyII: you and Bishop DiMarzio are now the minority.
All the more reason to get rid of Nolan, Gianaris, Addabbo et al. Note to Catholic institutions: Nolan and pals are not to be honored in any way after they have violated the Judeo-Christian ethic regarding the sanctity of marriage. Onorato, who retired, was a truly honorable man who has been replaced by a radical, Gianaris. I hope his Greek Orthodox priest has a discussion with him. Bishop DiMarzio has made it clear: no honors to the Nolans et al.