The entire state, and indeed the nation, was watching Albany closely on June 23 as the New York State assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the Empire State.
In a headline-inducing end-run, Governor Andrew Cuomo managed to usher the bill through the state senate with a 33-29 passing.
While this has been a rather contentious issue, The Spectrum editorial board feels that this is a good thing overall.
We would also like to remind our readers that there have been many other problems in the definition of marriage. It used to be that people of different religions or of different races were not allowed to wed, that kind of law seems ludicrous now, and we look forward to a time when same-sex marriage is as nonchalant.
While the majority of us do applaud the passage of this bill, we would like to stipulate that the opinions of those who oppose gay marriage are not to be ridiculed now. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.
On a more local tack, Republican State Senator Mark Grisanti who represents parts of Buffalo, Tonawanda, Niagara Falls, and Grand Island, broke party lines to deliver one of the necessary votes to secure passage.
Grisanti started out as a Democrat, but found himself unable to defeat incumbent Antoine Thompson in the 2008 primary. He received a waiver to run as a Republican in 2010 and was then able to take Thompson's seat, while running on a platform that included a promise to vote no on same-sex marriage issues.
The problem to his political career is not so much that Grisanti formed his own opinion outside of the Republican Party, but rather that he broke a campaign promise.
We at The Spectrum were torn on this issue as well. On the one hand Grisanti showed a large amount of political courage in doing his own research into the subject and forming his own opinions outside of the party that he is currently registered with.
On the other hand, Grisanti made a promise to the people that elected him that he would vote no. Another local state senator, Bill Stachowski (D) ran into similar trouble in 2009 when he broke his campaign promise to vote for same-sex marriage and instead voted no. He lost his next primary and now is a former senator from Buffalo.
One thing we could agree on is that the political machine is getting much too narrowly focused on singular party platform topics. It could be argued that Grisanti chose to side with the democratic majority that makes up his constituency by the time this vote came up and thus supported its passage. Or it could be the squeaky wheel was amplified by Lady Gaga and her "Little Monsters" over the pleas of religious groups.
We are at a crossroads where doing what is right may be equally popular and unpopular. Hopefully, integrity will continue to be the tiebreaker.
