On Thursday, New York's newly appointed and relatively unknown governor, David A. Paterson, announced his directive to make same-sex marriage legally recognized by the state of New York. Paterson showed his commitment to marriage equality in 1994, long before gay rights groups were broadly pushing for it. In the 1980s, Paterson presented himself as a strong ally for gay and lesbian rights when he refused to compromise a hate crimes bill in the State Senate that did not include sexual orientation. The bill became law in 2000 and, thanks to Paterson, 'sexual orientation' was included as a protected group, which historically marks the first time the term appears in New York law.
“In many respects, people in our society, we only recognize our own struggles,” Mr. Paterson said. “I’ve wanted to be someone in the African-American community who recognizes the new civil rights struggle that is being undertaken by gay and lesbian and transgendered people.”
Read more on Paterson's directive: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30paterson.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087&em&en=57f877b49f4b8395&ex=1212292800
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1 comment:
This is awesome! i must say I am enjoying Gov. Patterson's work ever since he took over for Spitzer.
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