Dec 4th

The New York State Senate rejected a bill on Wednesday that would have allowed gay couples to wed, providing a major victory for those who oppose same-sex marriage, but instead, provided a victory for the opposing side who claim that gay marriage is either, "unnecessary," "wrong," or "unimportant." Senators who voted against the measure said the public was gripped by financial anxiety and remained uneasy about changing the state’s definition of marriage. We can also suspect that those who are wishing for reelection next year may have voted differently if they did not have the weight of the public's vote on their shoulders. Again, another example of why constant elections make our government an ironically slow process for change, which certainly does not display "good government". Politicians are not thinking of how issues will effect economics, but selfishly, how it will affect themselves.

In a state that is known for being typically Democratic, this was largely a surprise to me. I always felt that it was hard to find any who strongly oppose gay marriage within close physical distance to myself, and that those with more conservative social values were only typical of generally Republican states. Now that this bill has been denied by the state senate, I feel that more opposers to gay marriage have "come out", shall we say? Gay rights is again a hot topic in a time where young children, alike one 5th grader who has gotten some recent press, who will not stand for the flag until there is, "liberty, and justice for all". In a time where men and women patrol the streets annually in pride for their homosexuality, and even the young children stand up to protest against the hatred against them, how is it possible that New York state, a state of highly renown education standards and blue social values, vote against gay marriage? It's a frightening thought that we are all still diverse on this, once one-sided issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/nyregion/03marriage.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=dec%204&st=cse