Last week, Obama Democrat New York Governor Paterson demanded a vote on gay marriage from his Obama Democrat New York State Senate majority. They refused, not because they didn't have enough support from members of the Republican minority, but because a number of Obama Democrats don't want to offend Jesus. They answer to a higher authority than Paterson, Obama and the United States Constitution.
Ironically, much of this rests in one man's hands. One man. One fervent Obama Democrat from The Bronx who has become the poster boy for New York's powerful forces of bigotry and stupidity.
But New York Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz is no ordinary scum. This is New York, after all, the home of the exceptional.
New York State's chief adversary of gay rights is a Pentecostal minister, a State Senator, an Obama supporter and a Democrat with two gay brothers, a gay granddaughter, an openly gay assistant and an openly gay former campaign aide--one big gay family giving one big gay hater serious gay street creds.
Furthermore, New York State's gay hater-in-chief, Senator Diaz loves gay people.
“I love them. I love them,” insisted Mr. Díaz in an interview last week with The New York Times.
“But I don’t believe in what they are doing. They are my brothers. They are my family. So how could I be a homophobe?”
I'm reminded of a Hitler who loved dogs and how could someone who loved dogs be a mass murderer?
Senator Diaz who may single-handedly prove responsible for stopping marriage equality in New York State uses his so-called gay credentials (a robust circle of gay family and gay friends) to legitimize his bigotry and crusade against equality.
Of course, anyone paying attention might consider that this is not unlike the model presented by our own President: loves gays, surrounds himself with gays; but when it comes to gay rights? Not so much.
As for the gay crowd that rallies around Mr. Diaz? Those who have agreed to be questioned by the press explain that Mr. Diaz is a good Christian and together they all rally around the unity of family. Warms the cockles of my hearts.
So marriage Equality in New York State is up against an Obama Democrat and his army of self-loathing homosexuals and has nothing to do with the great big Republican bogeyman.
And when it comes to Diaz's flock of gay family and friends, Diaz is a giver.
Diaz was forced to resign from the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board years ago for suggesting that the Gay Games would encourage homosexuality and spread H.I.V.
His gay siblings and gay employees stood by him.
In 2003, he sued the city to shut down a high school for gay and transgender students.
His gay siblings and gay employees stood by him.
As advocates push for a vote on same-sex marriage in the New York State Senate (the House of Representatives has already approved the bill--months ago), Mr. Díaz is speaking out, arguing that Maine's election results show that the tide has turned against allowing gay people to wed.
His gay siblings and gay employees are standing by him.
And, given the Democrats’ fragile majority in the New York State Senate--the party has 32 senators to the Republicans’ 30--Mr. Díaz’s bigotry rules the day.
“The people of the nation don’t want gay marriage,” Mr. Díaz said in an interview Monday. “They didn’t want it in California; they didn’t want it in Maine. And the people of upstate New York...don’t want gay marriage. Forget about it. People don’t want it.”
Mr. Díaz argued that the bill legalizing same-sex marriage should not even be allowed to come to the floor, saying the Legislature has more important issues to attend to. And some of his Obama Democrat colleagues, while avoiding his provocative language, appeared to be moving to that position, worried that the political climate is too tense and the state’s fiscal crisis too urgent for the issue to be taken up now.
Mr. Díaz is also the Senate’s most outspoken opponent of abortion, and he once likened the harvesting of stem cells for research to Hitler using “the ashes of the Jews to make bars of soap.”
As I said, Senator Diaz is a giver.
Christopher R. Lynn, Mr. Díaz’s chief counsel, who is gay and lives with his partner in Queens, said that he has undergone three back operations, and that every time he goes into the hospital, Mr. Díaz has been there. “He is a true believer in Christian values, in treating people the way you want to be treated,” Mr. Lynn said.
Mr. Díaz describes Mr. Lynn as “my brother.” They often double-date with their respective better halves. Mr. Lynn seems to have no problem that his client is the reason he and his partner are legally treated as second or even third class citizens.
Diaz vocally resents those who brand him a bigot for his views, and seems to plead for understanding. “My religion doesn’t allow me to dance,” he said. “But that does not mean I don’t go to the party. My religion doesn’t allow me to drink. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hang around with my friends. My religion is against gay marriage. It means, I don’t agree with what you do. But let’s go out. Let’s go to the movies. Let’s be friends.”
For some reason, however, Mr. Diaz is not campaigning to ban dancing or drinking--but he is campaigning to ban gays.
Mr. Díaz grew up in Puerto Rico. His father, a carpenter, had five children with his mother; Mr. Díaz also had 11 half-brothers and sisters. He joined the Army out of high school, in 1960, and served in Fort Jackson, S.C. He moved to New York in 1965 and fell into drugs. Arrested for possession of heroin and marijuana, he got probation. Not long after, he found God. He became a pastor, a community leader, a city councilman, a senator--and eventually New York States leading celebrity bigot, theocrat and idiot.
Last year, Lisa Winters, who runs the Bronx Pride Community Center, a group for gay youth, requested a meeting with the senator. He never responded. She showed up anyway, with a group of gay teenagers, and was told that Mr. Díaz was not in. Moments later, she said, they saw Mr. Díaz leaving his office by a side door.
This spring, Mr. Díaz led a small delegation of legislators to Puerto Rico, and at the end of the trip, he hosted a barbecue at his family’s home. His brother--whom Mr. Díaz will not name because, he says, the brother is not openly gay--was there to greet the guests. There was no discussion, Mr. Díaz said, about how he would vote on gay marriage. “We don’t need to talk about that anymore,” Mr. Díaz said.
Oh, yes we do, Mr. Diaz. You are an embarrassment to New York State, New York City and to the human race. You are a disgusting and vile enemy of children, the Constitution and every law and regulation that allowed you to immigrate to these United States and achieve success as a State Senator.
But as offensive as you may be, you are nothing compared to your gay family and friends who provide you with bizarre "gay credentials".
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