Open Letter to NY's Anti-Gay State Senators
Saturday, December 12, 2009 10:22AM

This week's Equality Army assignment was to send this letter to as many NY State Senators who voted NO as possible.  If you want the list of their contact info, email equality@blakehayes.com

Dear Senator,

I’m disappointed you voted against marriage on December 2nd.  I’m disappointed you voted against civil rights, against human rights, and against me.  Why?

I may not be one of your constituents, but I am a gay New Yorker, so I am impacted by your vote that day.  You haven’t even met me.  How can you decide that I – and my friends, my family – don’t deserve to get married? 

When countries like Uganda, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia are putting gays to death, you were given an opportunity to send the message that in New York, so often the spokes-state of America, gays are equal under the law.  And you said NO. 

In a time when one in three teenage suicides is caused by anti-gay bullying, you were given an opportunity to send a message that those kids the same as the rest of us.  And you said NO.

When 2,424 gay Americans are victimized in hate crimes yearly, 29 of them murdered, you were given an opportunity to send a message that they deserve the same rights as you.  And you said NO.

The 13th Amendment was not just about slavery; the 19th Amendment was not just about voting.  They were about equality, and the rights long-owed to these segments of the American population.

Your vote on December 2nd was not just about marriage.  It was about equality, acceptance, and family.  And you voted against all three.

And you voted against me.  And I’d like to know why.  If you had the courage to stand up before saying “NO” in Albany and explain your vote, I wouldn’t have to ask.  But you didn’t.  So please tell me.

Thank you,

Blake

 

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