Marriage Equality in New York: Fighting Faith with Faith...

The advertising in states where marriage rights have been extended to queer couples that opposes this is often funded by what we sometimes call the religious right. Since the 80's the joke about that term is that they are neither religious nor right. And while I think it is essential that this fight be conducted and framed as civil and secular rights, I also think it is essential that our allies in faith communities should be made more of. When the voices from these communities is no longer monolithic in its opposition to our cause — when we have ministers and rabbis from mainstream congregations who speak out in our favor — these are the people who can best reach the hearts and minds of those citizens and legislators who are being misled by their spiritual leaders. At the recent day of lobbying upstate in Albany, Equality and Justice Day, one of the speakers on the Mall was Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein, of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun (where I am proud to be a member). Here is what he had to say to the people, and the legislators, of New York State, on the subject of marriage equality: