 AP Photo |
As celebrities, government officials and regular Joes and Janes alike celebrate the legalization of gay marriage in New York, Christian family organizations are offering some harsh words for the Republican-dominate New York Senate.
As Family Research Council President Tony Perkins sees it, enormous political coercion has resulted in a profound failure of
moral courage in the New York Senate.
A clear majority of the people of
New York oppose counterfeit ‘marriage,’ he notes, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo and anti-family
lawmakers have shown that their allegiance is to a small but vocal
minority seeking to redefine marriage and family.
“The so-called religious protections that were tacked on to the bill
will ultimately do nothing to protect the religious rights of New York
citizens. As we go forward there is little doubt that the ‘incentives,’
some taxpayer funded, used to sway votes, especially Republican ones,
will be exposed,” Perkins says.
While it was the Democrats who were pushing this agenda, it is the
Republicans in the NY Senate who ultimately allowed this to happen,
especially Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Perkins says.
“Sadly, the families of
New York are not represented well by either of the state’s major parties
on this issue. This battle however, is not without its heroes. State
Senator Ruben Diaz, Rev. Duane Motley, Jason McGuire and the National
Organization for Marriage worked tirelessly for the families of New York
in this battle, and they should be praised for their work—it is not
all for naught,” Perkins says.
“The New York state legislature’s denial of its citizens a chance to
vote on the issue of marriage shows it is long overdue that the U.S.
Congress begin taking these threats to marriage seriously. They should
move to allow the people of the U.S. the right to vote on an issue they
clearly understand, as evidenced each time the issue of marriage is put
to a direct vote of the people.”
