Pressure Rises Against NY Sen. Ruben Diaz Over Marriage Equality

The NY Daily News reports today that the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario/La Prensa has called out NY Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx) for blocking progress on marriage equality. El Diario:

"Rev. Diaz and others are supposedly not for denying rights to gays and lesbians but believe that marriage should be between a man and woman. Yet, it’s this very discriminatory position that serves to exclude lesbian and gay couples from obtaining the rights, benefits and standing that heterosexuals take for granted.

"This use of religious beliefs to block basic civil rights undermines the separation of church and state in this nation. The basis of that separation lies in the experience of early American colonists who had fled religious persecution elsewhere to pursue tolerance, acceptance and freedom in the “new” world. Latinos, as well as other groups, should have an honest conversation about homophobia. Discrimination, whether within or outside of our communities, on the basis of color, immigration status, gender or sexuality is just not acceptable."

The News also notes the anti-Diaz campaign on Facebook.

Diaz is also the target of another kind of (probably unwelcome) attention from a new (and rather exhaustively-titled) Facebook page called "Stop a Marriage Referendum in New York: Malcolm Smith for Majority Leader." Officers of the group include a number of well-known LGBT activists like Ethan Geto, Stonewall Democrats Matthew Carlin, Corey Johnson, and the page's creator, Jeff Campagna, a producer and activist, who wrote:

"I am furious that the obstacle standing between us and marriage equality is a Democratic state senator named Ruben Diaz Sr., from the Bronx, who with his two friends Senators Carl Kruger and Pedro Espada Jr., also Democrats, is threatening to stand with the Republicans to block Malcolm Smith from becoming Senate Majority Leader in January. Why would Ruben Diaz Sr. do this? Because he says he refuses to back a Senate Majority Leader like Malcolm Smith, who supports marriage equality and who will finally put the issue to a vote. But Ruben Diaz Sr. isn’t just threatening to block Malcolm Smith from being majority leader. He’s so obsessed with gay marriage that he’s trying to figure out how to bring Proposition 8 to the ballot in New York. Maybe Senator Diaz thinks that we’re all going to let this pass and walk on eggshells as he plays power games with his Senate colleagues. We have before. Remember when we cheered the passage of a sexual orientation non-discrimination act that was stripped of protections for gender expression because we didn’t want to rock the boat?"

Both on Facebook and at an anti-Prop 8 rally outside City Hall last week, Campagna urged gay marriage supporters to contact Diaz Sr. and urge him to support Smith. At the rally, he called on everyone present to pull out their cell phones and program in the senator's office number, which he yelled out from the podium.

Gov. David Paterson has met with Diaz to discuss his recalcitrance on marriage equality.