SOLIDARITY PROTEST: Manhattan Borough President To Marry Out Of State
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After five decades of municipal fidelity, Mr. Stringer is refusing to do something rather momentous in the city of his birth: marry. He and his fiancée, Elyse Buxbaum, have decided to wed in Connecticut this year in what they described as a protest of New York’s failure to legalize gay marriage. In the half year since the New York State Senate defeated a bill to allow same-sex marriage, a parade of politicians have proclaimed their anger at the inability of gay couples to marry in the state. But Mr. Stringer, a potential candidate for mayor in 2013, may be the first to boycott New York’s marriage bureau — an act that he hopes will encourage his constituents (and fellow lawmakers) to get married in states like Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts that have sanctioned gay marriage. “This gives Elyse and I a chance to take personal responsibility,” Mr. Stringer, 50, said at a coffee shop on the Upper East Side as Ms. Buxbaum, 38, sat next to him. “If enough people who have somewhat of a profile — not just politicians, but artists and business leaders — start going into Massachusetts or Connecticut and show New York how embarrassing it is that you can’t get a marriage license for same-sex couples, then we will change things.”Stringer says the out-of-state wedding was suggested to him by controversial gay activist Allen Roskoff.
Labels: Connecticut, Manhattan, marriage equality, New York state, NYC, straight allies