NY State Sen. Mark Grisanti Compares Same-Sex Marriage to House Pets

By Brandon Miller ·

Lady GaGa launched a campaign earlier this month to have her followers help convince New York State Senator Mark Grisanti to support same-sex marriage. Though the Senator once claimed his views were unalterable, some rumblings indicated that he may have had a change of heart.
Well, no such luck. At least not yet.
On March 9, Sen. Grisanti did a radio interview in which he compared marriage equality with house pets. If that sounds like a ridiculous comment, it's because it was. The Senator also said that he would support civil unions, but not formal marriage for gays and lesbians.
"Civil unions and all the proponents that go along with that, I have no problem with," Grisanti said. "I have a problem with the term marriage itself. To me, marriage is between a man and a woman. It's been a term, a term of ours for years that has been around for thousands of years. It's like calling a cat, a dog. I don't think that that needs to be changed."
Openly gay state Senator Tom Duane responded to Grisanti's comments, and pretty much sums it all up. Duane says:

It is truly sad and unfortunate that Senator Grisanti would publicly compare marriage equality and my right to marry the person I love, with cats and dogs.

Lady Gaga appropriately and powerfully used her platform to draw attention to Senator Grisanti’s position on marriage equality. I sincerely hope that Senator Grisanti will apologize for his misstatement, and that when he meets with and has an open discussion with those Western New Yorkers who are being denied equal recognition of their families, he will listen with an open heart and mind.

I believe that when he hears the stories of the denial of family recognition imposed on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender New Yorkers, he will join Lady Gaga and so many other New Yorkers – in fact, a majority of New Yorkers – who support marriage equality.

I also hope that the majority of New York State Senators will recognize my right to marry the person I love, now.

It is indeed a sad development to hear these comments, but it is by no means the end. What sort of monsters would we be if we didn't heed GaGa's call to keep e-mailing the Senator? Forget that, what sort of human beings would we be if we didn't support equal rights for all? E-mail Senator Mark Grisanti and urge him to support same-sex marriage by signing our petition here. Everyone deserves the right to a bad (legal) romance.

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