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Protesters Target The Homes And Offices Of NY Senators Who Voted Against Equality

12/14/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Protesters braved snow, rain, and slush to bring a message to New York State Senator Carl Kruger. Many of the signs called Kruger a closeted bigot. It is part of a wider campaign to picket all thirty-eight Senators who voted against New York’s marriage equality bill. The bill, which should have been narrowly approved, instead failed to pass, and garnered not a single Republican vote. The reasoning behind the defeat likely was a mixture of fear over the supposedly growing power of the Conservative Party in New York, the vote in Maine, and the decision by the Republicans to “punish” the Democrats for the mess that the State Senate has been in since the Republicans convinced two Democrats to cross the isle for a short period of time and throw the whole Senate into disarray.

So far, the organizers have already stopped protested in front of Hiram Monserrate, who was recently convicted of beating his girlfriend.

How effective the tactic is will depend upon a lot of factors. The large reason why many of these state senators voted against this bill is that they feel threatened by groups who oppose marriage equality. It is another issue where the Right is more up in arms about it passing than the Left is about making sure that it passes. The problem is in getting the Left to vote for those who stood up in favor of equality and to vote against those who did not. In Vermont, the Vermont Freedom To Marry group is organizing to help defend those who supported the passage of the equality bill this year. VT State Senator Kevin Mullen was one of those who voted in favor of marriage equality, and there will be attempts to unseat him by people who opposed the bill.

One of the major factors which has been a problem with the LGBT Rights Movement is the lack of a focused and organized political movement. This often leaves politicians feeling vulnerable if they vote in favor of the LGBT Community because they do not have the support of an organized group out of that segment of the population the same way that their opponents will from the opposite direction.

Gay Marriage Debate Ends Up on State Senator’s Doorstep