Opponents of Governor Andrew Cuomo's
effort to legalize gay marriage in New York on Saturday held their
first Mayday
for Marriage! rally.
The statewide bus tour made its first
public stop in downtown Elmira, located in the south-central part of
the state.
The conservative group New Yorker's
Family Research Foundation is behind the campaign to douse Cuomo's
plan to make New York the sixth state in the nation to legalize the
institution.
“In same-sex marriage relationships
we're intentionally denying children a mom or a dad,” Rev. Jason
McGuire told attendees, NBC affiliate WETM reported. “That's just
not right and just not good public policy. We want to encourage
marriage between a man and a woman.”
McGuire likened passage of marriage
equality to the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
“My generation asks the last, 'Where
were you when they tried to redefine when life began?' The next
generation will ask of ours, 'Where were you when they tried to
redefine marriage? ' What will we say to future generations?”
Four additional clergy also spoke at
the tour's inaugural stop: Rev. Duane Motley of New Yorkers for
Constitutional Freedoms, Rev. Bern Lytle of the Big Flats Wesleyan
Church in Big Flats, Rev. David Hackett of the Christian Hope Center
in Corning and Rev. John McConnell of the Southside Alliance Church
in Elmira.
Elmira City Mayor John Tonello said he
disagreed with the group's message: “I'm hopeful it passes the
state Legislature this year and gay marriage is approved.”
A
majority (58%) of New York voters support altering the state's
marriage laws to include gay and lesbian couples. But passage in
the state Senate, where a similar measure died in 2009, remains
uncertain. Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., the most outspoken opponent of
the legislation in the Senate, will
headline a May 15 rally in the Bronx.
Lawmakers in Rhode Island recently
announced they'll move ahead with a civil unions bill, angering
gay marriage supporters who have vowed to fight on.