It's bad enough that people like Steven Cymbrowitz (Flatbush), Joseph Lentol (Williamsburg) vote for pro homosexuality bills because they know our community doesn't have our priorities straight and wouldn't use political pressure to force these politicians to vote appropriately. But here we have 2 bills that's purpose is to consider same sex "marriages" equivalent, to real marriages, and of the 5 Jews in Albany who claim to be Orthodox all 5 voted for it (Dov Hikind, Phillip Goldfeder, Michael Simanowitz, Shelly Silver (who no longer has his fake heter of being speaker), and David Weprin).
The memo to Bill A05476 makes it clear that it's purpose is to extend same sex "marriages" to other areas of the law, and is thus really a bill to recognize same sex "marriage" in estates, powers and trusts law. (highlighted portion is added for clarity). The reason for this bill was that the state didn't change other laws when they made the same sex "marriage" law. Voting for this bill is voting to recognize those said unions for other areas of the law. Thus voting for this bill is equvlient to voting for same sex "marriage".
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The "Marriage" Equality Act enacted as Chapter 95 of 2011 provides that "marriages" of same-sex and different-sex couples are to be treated equally in all respects under the law. This bill makes conforming changes to the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law and the Surrogate's Court Procedure Act to reflect the provisions of the same sex "marriage" Act.
The second bill A00023makes it that same sex "marriages" must be recognized regarding adoptions as is made perfectly clear by the memo. Voting for this bill means by default, you recognize the "marriage" of a same sex couple, and furthermore wish to make sure that other states recognize the "parentage" of both parties in the same sex couple
JUSTIFICATION :
Under existing New York law, judges already have the ability to grant
an adoption of a child by a petitioner whose parentage is already
legally-recognized. These adoptions are routinely granted and can be
very important for many same-sex "couples" and their "children".
While the spouse of a woman who gives birth to a child is presumed to
be the child's parent, same-sex "couples" find themselves in a legally
precarious position when traveling in places where same-sex "marriages" are not recognized. A New York adoption would be honored in another
jurisdiction, and afforded full faith and credit, even if a couple's "marriage" was not. This gives children the security that both their "parents" will be legally recognized wherever family members may be due to their same sex "marriage".
Already under existing law, judges may and routinely do grant these
adoptions. Despite this clear legal authority, a Surrogate's Court in
Brooklyn recently denied a "married" same-sex couple an adoption. This
bill further codifies the existing law to explicitly state that a
petition to adopt shall not be denied solely on the basis that the
petitioner's parentage is already legally-recognized due to a same sex "marriage". This bill
ensures that same sex couples' access to such adoptions could not be fettered
by future court decisions.
Contacting some of these legislators to complain can prevent them from ever voting for such rishus again, this is especially true for Dov Hikind who is represents the largest Orthodox community in America
Dov Hikind (718) 853-9616
Phillip Goldfeder (718) 945-9550, (718) 641-8755
Michael Simanowitz (718) 969-1508
Shelly Silver (212) 312-1420
David Weprin (718)454-3027, (718)805-2381
Steven Cymbrowitz (718)743-4078
Joseph Lentol (718)383-7474
Four "Orthodox" Assemblymen Voted to ban helping people try to overcome their same sex attraction, they furthermore voted that there is no problem with being a homosexual!
a. Being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is nota disease, disorder, illness, deficiency, or shortcoming. The major professional associations of mental health practitioners and researchers in the United States have recognized this fact for nearly 40 years. (bill)
Listen to Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik's strong opposition to the liberals stopping a therapist from helping a person overcome homosexuality.
Here are examples of some of the things they want to ban for being"traumatic"!
“Then modern Orthodox high schools were sending their kids to a conversion therapy program. The school psychologist would try to change them from being gay to straight. Their methods included having the kid repeating the verse in the Bible over and over again for 45 minutes. Looking at pictures of AIDS victims and colorectal cancer victims and say ‘this is what comes of homosexual sex.’ Kids were being "traumatized". We haven’t heard that lately. Now the complaints kids have is that they don’t hear anybody from the administration using the word ‘gay’, and worry about what would happen if they come out. "Orthodox" high schools are starting to think proactively about it,” says Levovitz. “We’re heading in the "right" direction.”
For the remainder of this post all those politicians who acted problematically that have a decent sized Orthodox population in their district will be highlighted yellow,
those that have a sizable Orthodox community will be highlighted green, "Orthodox" politicians will be highlighted blue.
Everybody should call up their state senators, urging them to do whatever they can to prevent this evil bill from passing the Senate and becoming law!
Senator Simcha Felder (718)253-2015 is one of the most influential members in the senate: Everyone should call him, urging him to use his influence to help stop this evil bill from ever becoming law!
I’m gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too.
By Sally Kohn February 20
Sally Kohn is an essayist and a CNN political commentator.
I live in the liberal bubble of Park Slope, Brooklyn, where no yuppie would ever admit to wanting their kid to be anything in particular, other than happy. But more often than not, we define happiness as some variation on our own lives, or at least the lives of our expectations. If we went to college, we want our kids to go to college. If we like sports, we want our kids to like sports. If we vote Democrat, of course we want our kids to vote Democrat.
I’m gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too.
Many of my straight friends, even the most liberal, see this logic as warped. It’s one thing for them to admit that they would prefer their kids to be straight, something they’ll only begrudgingly confess. But wanting my daughter to be a lesbian? I might as well say I want her to grow up to be lactose intolerant.
“Don’t you want her to be happy?” one friend asked. Perhaps he just meant that it’s easier to be straight in a homophobic culture. But this attitude complies with, even reinforces, that culture in the first place. A less-charitable interpretation is that he thinks being straight is superior. When I was a teenager, my father cautioned me against marrying a black person. “I’m just trying to protect you,” he said. But it was impossible to know whether he meant to insulate me from the world’s bias or implicitly rationalize his own.
The idea that no one would choose to be gay is widely held — even in the gay rights movement. In the early ’90s, partly as a response to the destructive notion that gay people could be changed, activists pressed the idea of sexuality as a fixed, innate state. Scientists even tried to prove that there’s a “gay gene.” These concepts about sexual orientation helped justify the case for legal protections. The idea that folks are “born gay” became not only the theme of a Lady Gaga song, but the implicit rationale for gay rights.
“I wouldn’t even choose for myself to be gay,” a friend once told me. It was a sad admission, because she was.
Once upon a time, of course, “gay” meant “happy.” But eventually, the synonyms grew apart. Gay became an unfortunate, even pitiable status. When the gay liberation activist Franklin Kameny launched a simple effort in 1968 to proclaim that “gay is good,” it was because, at the time, it very much wasn’t. Until 1973, the American Psychological Association considered homosexuality a form of mental illness. And while gay-positive culture has flourished since, our aspirations haven’t kept pace. It’s more widely acceptable to be gay in America today, but that’s not the same as being desirable. In my house, though, it is.
Here you might expect me to say something about how, if my daughter were gay, she would undoubtedly face challenges and hurdles she wouldn’t encounter if she were straight. Maybe. And maybe if I weren’t an upper-middle-class white lesbian living in a liberal city, I’d have such worries. But no matter what, I’d want my child to be herself. If I lived in, say, North Carolina, with an adopted son from Morocco, I’d like to think I would encourage him to be Muslim, if that’s what he chose. I’d do this even though his life would probably be easier if he didn’t. It’s also easier to succeed as a dentist than an artist. But if my daughter wants to be an artist, I’ll encourage her all the way — and work to destroy any barriers along her path, not put them up myself.
Plus, I’ve never for a single second regretted being gay, nor saw it as anything other than an asset and a gift. My parents were ridiculously supportive from Day One, and I had a great community of friends and mentors who made me feel unconditionally accepted. By the time my daughter comes of age, she’ll have even more of a support network, including two moms, for crying out loud.
More than that, though, being gay opened my eyes to the world around me. Learning that not every gay person had it as good as I did helped me realize that a lot of people in general didn’t have it as good as I did. I wouldn’t be a politically engaged human being, let alone an activist, writer and TV personality, if I weren’t gay.
If my daughter is gay, I don’t worry about her having a hard life. But I do worry about people expecting her to have a hard life — helping to perpetuate discrimination that might otherwise fade more quickly. I want my daughter to know that being gay is equally desirable to being straight. The problem is not the idea that homosexuality could be a choice but the idea that heterosexuality should be compulsory. In my house it’s plainly, evidently not. We’ve bought every picture book featuring gay families, even the not-very-good ones, and we have most of the nontraditional-gender-role books as well — about the princess who likes to fight dragons and the boy who likes to wear dresses.
When my daughter plays house with her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad. Sometimes she changes her narrative. Sometimes she doesn’t. It’s her choice.
All I ultimately care about is that she has the choice and that whatever choice she makes is enthusiastically embraced and celebrated.
Time will tell, but so far, it doesn’t look like my 6-year-old daughter is gay. In fact, she’s boy crazy. It seems early to me, but I’m trying to be supportive. Recently, she had a crush on an older boy on her school bus. She was acting as any precocious, socially awkward child would, which is to say not very subtle. I confided in a friend who has an older daughter. “She wants to give this kid a card and presents,” I e-mailed. “The other kid is so embarrassed. It’s painful to watch. What do I do?”
My friend wrote back with a slew of helpful advice, ending with a punch to my gut: “Bet it wouldn’t bother you so much if her crush was on a girl.”
She was right. I’m a slightly overbearing pro-gay gay mom. But I’m going to support my daughter, whatever choices she makes.
