Joseph Addabbo (nysenate.gov)
June 15, 2011 By Christian Murray
New York Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who represents a sliver of Sunnyside, has decided to vote in favor of the same-sex marriage bill that is expected to come up for a vote next week.
Addabbo, who voted against the measure in 2009, joined Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a press conference announcing his support on Monday. Two other undecided Democratic NY Senators, Shirley Huntley and Carl Kruger, announced their support for the bill at the same media event.
Their change of mind is slowly helping supporters of the measure to get the votes they need to secure passage of the bill in the state senate. With the Governor on board and the assembly backing the bill, the only hurdle left is getting it passed in the senate.
Addabbo reportedly said that two years ago, 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 the same-sex bill.
The New York Daily News reports that the bill is currently two votes short of passage, with at least four Republicans saying they are undecided. According to the New York daily, Senate Republicans are expected to hold a closed-door meeting concerning the gay-marriage measure and might bring it to the floor for an up-and-down vote this week. There are 62 seats in the senate.
For those who are for or against the measure, Addabbo’s district office number is (718)738-1111
http://www.nysenate.gov/senator/joseph-p-addabbo-jr/contact
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33 Comments
oh boy…I made the mistake of scrolling through some more of these comments to see Raquel, over and over again, show her stupidity. She suggests that we read the Bible…clearly she has not read it herself (or maybe she has, and that’s where her ignorance and hatred come from). Among the many commandments (there are over 600 of them, not just the 10 main ones, which are probably the only ones she knows about, and if she works on Sunday, someone really needs to stone her at once) are instructions on what you can do to your slaves and how you can torture them, how many pieces of silver must be paid for raping a woman, and a bunch of other horrible atrocities that are illegal in a civilized, humane society. There is also a lot of infanticide in the holy book. Her god hates babies. And gays. So, yes, it is a learning experience, Raquel, and unfortunately, you’ve learned too much from it.
Reading these comments, I am ashamed that I share my name with an intolerant, religious zealot who is worried about someone bringing down an entity that is the single biggest property owner on planet earth (that pays no taxes on any of it either) and the single largest entity that produces child rapists under the veil of “godliness” (whatever that word means). I can’t wait until a happily gay couple move next door to Raquel so that her anger and frustation will make her vomit daily and she can spend all her free time praying for deliverance from the homos.
And now all of the homophobes and bigots are demonstrably on the wrong side of history. Fortunately, the majority of our State Senate are more enlightened than some of the nastier residents of Sunnyside.
[…] NY Sen. Addabbo will support same-sex marriage bill | Sunnyside Post That's my state senator. A couple months ago there were volunteers stopping people on one of the major streets and asking them to call his office in support of gay marriage, a few weeks later he sent out a 3 question poll via mail. […]
Sunny Blue – There were some pro-gay rights volunteers on Fresh Pond stopping people and asking them to call his office a couple months back. This was followed by a questionnaire his office sent out by mail a week or so later.
Questions were:
1. Do you believe that the LIFO policy of the NYC Department of Education should be changed?
2. Do you believe the freedom to marry should be extended to gay and lesbian couples?
3. Do you support additional subsidies to the MTA if it guarantees no fare hikes?
RANDALL
isnt that a pretty big assumption to make about small businesses being impacted…?
and comparing polygamy to homosexuality is ridiculous!
Roger you are right – watch – the churches will be sued. Also, small businesses will be impacted if somebody on religious grounds, does not want to cover the health insurance of a same sex spouse and ends up being sued. This will lead to even more discrimination. Is polygamy next?
Churches won’t be required to perform same-sex marriages, I agree. however, the government can threaten to revoke their tax exempt status is they don’t knuckle under. That’s the entire purpose of the tax code, to manipulate people and social engineering, for anything not just gay marriage.
its the 21st century and love is love is love.
i dont like the idea of marriages in general
but, i think that if and after this does pass (which i hope it does)
people need to stop referring to it as ‘gay-marriage’
drop the ‘GAY’ …just call it a marriage.
stop labeling shiet like that
Southie, you just PROVED MY POINT: no real “carveout” for religious institutions. Thank you!
They did not want to violate THE TENETS OF THEIR FAITH, so they will not do adoption referrals! They were being asked to violate CORE BELIEFS. Very charitable, Southie? Who are the REAL VILLAINS here?
Thanks R. 🙂
No. Not “no adoptions”. No adoptions through Catholic Charities of Boston.
They made a decision not to work with adoptions so they would not have to provide a loving home to a child in need if that loving home happened to be the home of a gay couple.
They abandoned their longstanding committment to adoption work because they did not want to adhere to the law. Very charitable.
R. – it is just a matter of time before churches would face discrimination suits. In Boston, Catholic Charities went out of the adoption business when it refused to do adoptions for same sex couples. Now they do NO ADOPTION REFERRALS. Do you think that that is a good thing? I don’t. No adoptions.
@Raquel: If, as you posit, marriage is an inherently discriminatory social status, then the state should not recognize it at all. But if it is a government-recognized social status that is to be open to some loving adult couples, under the law it will ultimately be open to all loving adult couples. That is the nature of the United States Constitution. It doesn’t give a good damn what your church says—your church is not the government. But your church should also not give a damn what the government says—if your church wants to discriminate, that is properly its business and the government may not interfere with your church.
And no-one is going to sue churches over their religious message and get away with it. To make that argument is to demonstrate a breathtaking ignorance of First Amendment law.
Remind me not to leave you a big tip, bitchywaiter!
Ugh. It’s impossible to open a mind that is so firmly closed. A small mind only affects the people who have to deal with it directly. Thankfully, I don’t.
The churches will have discrimination suits brought against them. Watch. RACIST HOMOPHOBE BIGOT – CLAP THREE TIMES! Typical sloganeering indicative of the mob mentality towards anybody who dares to challenge their radical agenda. Sorry: marriage is between a man and a woman.
Raquel, have you read about the bill? churches won’t be impacted. if the government issues marriage licenses, they can’t discriminate regarding who they issue it to. don’t worry, i doubt gays will be flocking to the church for a wedding ceremony.
if marriage only existed within a religious arena, you would have an argument. are christians the only people to get married? bottom line, for many people the catholic church and bible has no role in marriage, but for everyone, the government has a role in marriage.
domestic partnerships – not marriage. Case closed. Same legal rights but not a “marriage” – and yes, you would have health benefits, etc. Try reading the Bible, by the way – it is a learning experience.
Raquel: And marriage also used to be only between two people of the same race but eventually the country realized how ridiculous that was. Definitions change as the world does. I am so tired of straight people trying to define what marriage is and trying to prove how sanctimonious and precious the institution is. People have no problem with 85 year old Hugh Hefner marrying his 24 year old girlfriend or drunk people who may have just met getting married in Vegas. Or people who get married on a reality show. But when it comes to me and my partner who have been together for over 20 years, we can’t have the same rights that some stupid 18 year old girl who got pregnant at prom does?
Very soon, same sex marriage will be legal. If not this vote, then the next one. When it happens, people like you will have to either learn to accept it or just hide your narrow-minded thoughts in the closet.
Churches won’t have to marry gay people if they don’t want to. You won’t have to worry about me stepping into your Catholic church and defiling it with my filthy way of life. I leave that to the church, because they have done a great job of defiling it themselves lately. Trust me, God doesn’t give a crap if I marry my boyfriend so I can get health benefits. And hospital visitation rights. And joint tax returns. God is much more concerned with the amount of love and acceptance that is in the world than what two names go onto a piece of paper called a marriage certificate.
Case closed.
Holmes, you are fast to name call for anybody who dares – dares – to disagree with you and who stands up for the Judeo Christian ethic and definition of marriage. It is obvious that you hate Christians and Jews probably devout Catholics the most. Don’t hide behind YOUR sophistry: you want to shove your world view down people’s throats. You are the intolerant one: dare to disagree and Holmes labels you a bigot. You have the mob mentality of trying to intimidate your opponents by labeling them: it won’t work. I am not intimidated by bullies like you. I said that I favor civil unions/domestic partnerships. MARRIAGE is between a man and a woman. Case closed.
Welcome to the 21st century, Addabbo!
The marriage equality bill won’t impact Catholic or other church charities’ abilities to carry out their activities.
Your previous postings on this site have marked you indisputably as a bigot and a homophobe, so don’t hide behind sophistry about helping the poor to prop up your noxious worldview.
Stand up and be proud for the intolerant, racist, homophobic person that you really are. Walk your talk.
Holmes, marriage is between a man and a woman. I happen to favor domestic partnerships, by the way. Not marriage. And there will be lawsuits against Catholic Charities. Do you want poor people to suffer when they are forced to shut down? I guess you do.
I see that someone has apparently kicked over a rock and allowed the neighborhood homophobe to crawl out from underneath.
Note to several churches: time to start denouncing Addabbo from the altar. Don’t worry: despite the “carve out” for churches, you will be next up on the hit list for discrimination suits.
Addabbo – go back to watching American Idol, you fake!
I hope this goes through!
Thanks for the post. My partner of 20 years and I appreciate it.
A pol listening to his constituents. Strange though how the calls went one way then another. Did the opposers not call this time? Change their minds? Or did those in favor decide to call? How did he vote on the Ed Koch Bridge? Seems most constituents were against it.
That’s so gay.
So happy that Addabbo decided to do the right thing – overall I’ve been happy with him as a State Senator, but I was so disappointed when he voted against marriage equality in 2009 – so glad he had a change of heart and is willing to commit to the rights of all NY families.