New York State Senator Mark Grisanti
and three additional Republicans in the Senate on Friday helped
make New York the sixth – and most populous – state in the nation
to legalize gay marriage. Before casting his vote, Grisanti told
fellow lawmakers that he couldn't find a legal reason to oppose
marriage equality.
Grisanti said he previously opposed
such unions because of his religious upbringing.
“The issue of same-sex marriage was
never a strong topic of discussion among family and friends. I
simply opposed it in the Catholic sense of my upbringing.”
“As a Catholic, I was raised to
believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I'm not here,
however, as a senator who is just Catholic. I'm also here with a
background as an attorney. To which I look at things and I apply
reason.”
“I have studied this issue. To those
who know me, they know I have struggled with it.”
“I cannot legally come up an argument
against same-sex marriage. Who am I to say that someone does not
have the same rights that I have with my wife, who I love, or to have
the 1300-plus rights that I share with her.” (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Grisanti spoke after Senator Stephen
Saland had announced his support for the measure, breaking a tie in
the chamber and guaranteeing the measure's passage.