Anti-Gay NY Pol Showing Strain Under Pressure
Political groups, GLBT equality organizations, and unions have all come forward to issue a simple plea to New York state Sen. Rubén Díaz Sr. to prove himself a Democrat in more than name.
The Working Families Party, among other groups, has been active in attempting to bring pressure on to Díaz and fellow member of the so-called "Gang of Three," Democratic state Senator-elect Pedro Espada, Jr., by taking out a newspaper ad in several weekly Bronx publications.
The ad, which was reproduced in the Dec. 29 edition of the New York Daily News, reads, "Dear Senator Diaz and Senator-elect Espada: for decades our community has suffered under the failed leadership of the Republicans in Albany.
"People across New York voted to change that in November by electing a Democrat/Working Families majority in the State Senate for the first time in 43 years."
Continued the ad, "Now we can finally look forward to a better education for our children, more health care, affordable housing, and a real focus on all the issues that matter to working families.
"But only if you join the Democratic majority we voted for."
The Working Families party and other groups have circulated petitions urging Díaz to join with other state Democrats.
At issue is the question of whether fellow Democrat Malcolm Smith will be confirmed as Majority Leader of the New York state Senate. Díaz, Espada, and the third member of the so-called "Gang of Three," state Sen. Karl Kruger, another Democrat, have resisted Smith’s confirmation to the post due to Smith’s pro-marriage equality stance.
The New York state Assembly has already approved a bill that would allow gay and lesbian families in New York the right to marry. That bill, under outgoing Senate Majority Speaker Joseph Bruno, a Republican, was never allowed to come to a vote in the Senate.
The New York Daily News reported in November that Díaz, who is also an evangelical pastor, had attempted to convince Smith to sign a document promising not to allow the issue of marriage equality to come up for a vote.
But the turmoil surrounding Smith’s confirmation as the new Senate Majority Leader has had broader effects than the question of whether all families in New York will have equal access to legal recognition. Constituents see the flap as threatening the Democratic agenda overall.
In response to the petitions and the ads, Díaz’s people sent out a press release in which Díaz declared, "I am still a Democrat.
"And I will always be a Democrat."
New York Magazine reported in a Dec. 30 article that Díaz’s Dec. 29 release did address the evangelical pastor’s opposition to marriage rights for gay and lesbian families, but also decried budget cuts announced by Gov. David Paterson’s office and the ready availability of abortion services.
In a statement from earlier this month, Díaz praised President-elect Barack Obama for making the Democratic party more inclusive for Democrats who are more religiously and socially conservative.
Obama had drawn criticism from other quarters for inviting mega-church pastor and marriage equality opponent Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the Presidential Inauguration.
Read Díaz’s statement, "Obama has sent a message to the world that ’Yes We Can’ have a Democratic Party where everyone should be included."
Added Díaz, "It has been the belief that the Democratic Party is owned exclusively by certain groups, and if you do not believe in nor follow the ideology of these groups and their agendas, then you will be a registered outcast."
Díaz went on, "To some people, if you oppose homosexual marriage and abortion, you are not a Democrat and you are certainly not be invited to deliver an inaugural invocation."
