At a State Department Gay Pride
celebration on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cheered New
York's gay marriage law.
On Friday night, the New York Senate
approved Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan to make New York the sixth –
and most populous – state to legalize gay marriage. Cuomo
quickly signed the bill into law and gay and lesbian couples will be
able to wed in the Empire State starting in 30 days.
At the event co-hosted by the
Department of State and the affinity group Gays and Lesbians in
Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA), Clinton called the law a historic
victory for human rights.
“If you followed closely, which I’m
sure all of you did, the debate in New York, one of the key votes
that was switched at the end was a Republican senator from the
Buffalo area who became convinced that it was just not any longer
fair for him to see one group of his constituents as different from
another. Senators stood up and talked about nieces and nephews and
grandchildren and others who are very dear to them, and they don’t
want them being objectified or discriminated against. And from their
own personal connections and relationships, they began to make the
larger connection with somebody else’s niece or nephew of
grandchild and what that family must feel like,” Clinton said.
“So I ask all of you to look for ways
to support those who are on the front lines of this movement, who are
defending themselves and the people they care about with great
courage and resilience. This is one of the most urgent and important
human rights struggles of all times,” she added.