Same-sex Marriage Protesters to Hit New York Streets This Weekend
NEW YORK – Anti-gay marriage protesters will hit the streets of Manhattan this Sunday joining the “Stand Up and Be Heard Let the People Vote!” rally sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage.
The protest will take place at 633 3rd Ave in front of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office at 3 p.m. on July 24, the same day the law legalizing gay marriage will officially come into effect.
“It’s hard to tell but the response has been amazing,” said Brian S. Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, to The Christian Post. “I think they’ll be 5,000 or possibly more at all of the rallies.”
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Along with the Manhattan rally, other simultaneous protests are slated to take place in cities such as Albany, Buffalo and Rochester, according to Brown.
The goal of the protests, he said, is to organize a movement that will give the people of New York the right to vote on the issue of gay-marriage, which New York politicians took upon themselves to legalize without hearing the people.
“Throw out politicians who care more about lining their pockets with campaign contributions from gay millionaires than listening to the voices of everyday voters like you and me,” said Brown in an email to supporters.
Although the task will be a difficult one and could take nearly three years to come into effect, Brown feels confident that this movement could make a difference in the gay-marriage issue.
“We were involved in the elections in New Hampshire, where we helped elect a simple majority of folks committed to protecting marriage,” the NOM president wrote to supporters. “That was the biggest flip in state history and we’re going to need the same historic change in the New York legislature in 2012 to guarantee the people the ability to vote on this issue.”
Two town clerks recently resigned due to the passing of the gay marriage law in New York, and Brown believes this is just the beginning of problems for those opposed to the law.
“Who will the next victims be? A wedding photographer or owner of reception hall,” he inquired. “Parents of public school children who object to curriculum changes this fall?”
Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz, the lone Democrat to vote against the gay marriage bill, is also a supporter of the rally and urged New Yorkers to attend Sunday’s protest.
“Having had this bad law passed, we should not retreat in fear the way the Apostles did in the days after the crucifixion and before the resurrected Christ came to reveal himself. Instead, we need to maintain the same drive that the Apostles had after the resurrected Lord filled them with the Spirit,” Diaz, a Pentecostal minister, said in a statement this week.
Diaz said he has initiated a campaign requesting a referendum so that the 20 million citizens of New York State can vote to decide whether they want gay marriage.
The reported inevitability of the legalization of gay marriage nationwide is a political charade, according to Brown, who feels it is not too late to reverse this decision in New York made by government and not by the people.
Locations for “Let the People Vote!” Rallies:
All rallies begin at 3 p.m. on July 24.
MANHATTAN
633 3rd Ave.
ALBANY
West Capitol Park
South Swan St. and State St.
ROCHESTER
Liberty Pole
East Ave and East Main St.
BUFFALO
Buffalo City Hall
65 Niagra Sq # 201
