Letter to the Villager #1

My local neighborhood paper, The Villager is a great read for anyone living in Alphabet City who wants to know how the liberal minds of the area work. I'm not sure if I'll actually send this letter to the Villager, but I want to respond to the cover story for this weeks issue.

Dear Villager,

Your editorial in response to Paul Schindler's story on Mayor Bloomberg's answers on gay marriage fails to offer the best democratic solution to the gay marriage debate. Perhaps it's because your paper supports an undemocratic solution to the debate.

The solution is an Initiative and Referendum for the People of New York State to decide whether they are ready to accept gay marriage. Eleven other States have already done just that and learned whether their State is ready for such a change. Unfortunately, New York is not a State that lets its voters enjoy the democratic process and many times leaves us out. Gay marriage supporters should organize and petition for a ballot measure instead of forcing our courts to rule against current law.

Gay marriage is not an issue that is supported or opposed by one party, though some local democrats try to make it a partisan matter. If gay marriage was favored by democrats, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver would have already brought the matter to the floor of the Assembly for a vote or at least drafted a referendum. Democrats who are tired of Mr. Silver's obstructionism should challenge the Speaker in a Primary so they can bring in new leadership to Albany.

Marriage Laws are currently a State matter and all the bickering on the City level cannot change what our leaders (Silver, Sen. Joseph Bruno and Gov. George Pataki) in Albany must decide.

Marriage is viewed differently by different people. We would like to believe our State is progressive minded in a way that is willing to accept change, but we will never know unless our State begins to present social issues to the People in the form of a ballot measure. WIth all the problems we read about in California, at least their State votes on countless Propositions in any given year. It's time for New York to do the same.

In 2006, when studying up on candidates for Statewide and local state races, learn their positions on Initiative and Referendum. If you have a chance to confront a candidate on the issue, ask them, "Would you push New York's government to embrace Initiative and Referendum so we have a say in the democratic process?"