New York State Senate Has A New Bigotry Majority

I wrote with hope yesterday morning about the possibility that New York State Senator David Valesky might change his position on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage from opposition to support. This morning, that hope has turned to tatters.

Two Democratic Party senators, Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada (who has been accused of not even living in his senate district), supported a Republican effort yesterday to oust the senate’s Democratic leadership and replace it with a Republican one. Monserrate and Espada are still Democrats, but they’re voting with the Republicans to help the Republicans run the show.

Why did they make this switch, betraying their own political party? Monserrate and Espada are opponents of marriage equality, and it’s become increasingly clear that the majority of New York state senators would vote to legalize same-sex marriage. Monserrate and Espada think that the integrity of the Democratic Party matters less than denying homosexual residents of New York State equal rights. So, a new majority has been achieved in the senate, not of Democrats, not of Republicans, but of bigots.

With angry state Democratic politicians making acting like this, just in order to deny people their rights, what does it mean to be a New York State Democrat any more? It would be great to see a third party in New York State organize as a progressive alternative to the disintegrating Democrats.