After passage of a gay marriage bill in
New York, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has pledged to
spend at least $2 million in the 2012 elections to oust Republicans
who voted for the law.
Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan to make
New York the sixth – and most populous – state to legalize the
institution overcame its final hurdle on Friday when four Senate
Republicans joined all but one Democrat, Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. of
the Bronx, in approving the measure.
Republicans in New York had previously
been warned by NOM, the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay
marriage, and the Conservative Party, an influential group among
conservatives in the state, to tow the party line and not vote for
marriage equality.
“The Republican party has torn up its
contract with the voters who trusted them in order to facilitate
Andrew Cuomo's bid to be president of the U.S,” said NOM President
Brian Brown. “Selling out your principles to get elected is wrong.
Selling out your principles to get the other guy elected is just
plain dumb.”
“Gay marriage has consequences for
the next generation, for parents, and for religious people,
institutions and small business owners. Politicians who campaign one
way on marriage, and then vote the other, need to understand:
betraying and misleading voters has consequences, too. We are not
giving up, we will continue to fight to protect marriage in New York,
as we are actively doing in New Hampshire and Iowa,” he added.
Maggie Gallagher, board chair of NOM,
added: “The New York Republican Party is dysfunctional. When
Democrats control a chamber, they refuse to permit the people to vote
for marriage. When they are a minority, as in Wisconsin and Indiana,
they even flee the state to prevent a vote on a bill their base
disapproves. Contrast that with the behavior of the Republican party
today. The Republican Party in New York is responsible for passing
gay marriage, and sadly it's the families of New York who will pay
the worst price of the new government-backed redefinition of
marriage.”