National Geographic

I'm fairly sure I first posted this cartoon here a couple of years ago, but it's being passed around on Twitter today and feels just as true as when it was first published.

Former New York Giants player David Tyree yesterday delivered 63,000 anti-gay petitions to lawmakers in Albany.

Last week, Tyree appeared in a National Organization of Marriage video saying that same-sex marriage would lead to "anarchy." On Monday, he spoke to reporters in Albany saying that gay marriage is bad for society and for Christians. "A moral fiber of a country is its laws, which is the essential make-up of government," said Tyree. "Once you allow same-sex marriage, it opens up the door for a continued softening of the backbone of our society which will eventually, for generations to come, open the door for – who knows? – polygamy, and all other types of the sorts," he said. "And in the sense where people do have strong Christian convictions, that takes away in a sense our religious freedoms because none of the things we believe essentially lines up with same-sex marriage."

Tyree told reporters that he would gladly give up his Super Bowl championship in return for stopping gay marriage in new York.

Yesterday afternoon a group of violently anti-gay Hasidic Jews took great exception when openly lesbian Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum attempted to insert herself into a photo opportunity.

Anti-gay groups put out a call this morning for supporters to swarm the halls of the New York state house and form prayer circles against same-sex marriage.

(Tipped by JMG reader Wilson)

Gay City News reports that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn visited Albany yesterday to personally lobby GOP state Senators on same-sex marriage.

“Today I’ve been spending time talking to Republican senators,” Bloomberg said. “I’ve been reminding them marriage equality is entirely consistent with the GOP’s core values of promoting limited government and individual liberty.” Bloomberg said Senate Republicans — who ultimately get to decide whether a bill hits the floor for a vote — were Tuesday’s focus, but did not close the door on lobbying undecided Democrats, such as Joseph Addabbo and Shirley Huntley of Queens and Carl Kruger from Brooklyn. “If Chris [Quinn] or anyone else thinks it’s useful for me to call or visit, I am certainly not reticent to tell you what I believe or what I think is right,” said Bloomberg, who finished his day by meeting with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Last week openly gay Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell introduced a marriage equality bill to his chamber. The Assembly has approved same-sex marriage three times in years past.

Find more details here.

As the New York state budget inches closer to a major cut in funding for homeless youth shelters, today Ali Forney Center executive director Carl Siciliano posts a blistering letter to the governor in Gay City News. An excerpt:

Mr. Governor, I invite you to stop into one of our youth shelters. Maybe you can explain to our kids why they should be turned out of their beds and put in the street so you can give tax breaks to millionaires, to paraphrase your own father in his address at the 1984 Democratic Convention. Maybe you could explain how they are supposed to survive alone on the streets at night. I don’t have an answer for them, and their pain and confusion are palpable. Most of our clients are the most vulnerable LGBT youth in the community, rejected and abused by parents who cannot accept having gay children, discarded and thrown out of their homes simply for being LGBT. It is inexplicable how you –– a longtime ally to the gay community and champion of civil rights for LGBT adults, who has repeatedly made a commitment to marriage equality in New York –– can have so little concern for the safety and welfare of these young people.

Read Siciliano's letter in full.

TAKE ACTION: Sign Change.org's petition to Cuomo. You need not be a New York resident to sign. Call today: Governor Andrew Cuomo (518) 474-8390. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (518) 455-3791. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (518) 455-3171.

Days after being released on bail for federal corruption charges, anti-gay and newly outed NY state Sen. Carl Kruger returned to Albany where his fellow lawmakers are now treating the once powerful Kruger like the steaming cesspool of a human that he is. The New York Times issues this blistering observance:

Mr. Kruger, his head down, again declined to speak to reporters. He piled into an elevator and stood, completely silent, as the elevator stopped, floor by floor, and people got on and off. Then he took an underground passageway from the Legislative Office Building to the Capitol. No one spoke to him. People stared, the way people stare when trying to seem as if they are not staring. Then another elevator — which seemed to take an afternoon to open its doors. Mr. Kruger’s every action was watched, his every embarrassment noted. On the Senate floor, he had to figure out where he was supposed to sit. The loss of his committee rank also lost him a prominent place. Mr. Kruger instead slouched in a seat in the back.

For now Kruger will remain in office while he and his wretched gynecologist boyfriend await trial on bribery and money laundering charges. He has been stripped of his post as the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, an office typically filthy with favor-seeking lobbyists as the legislature hammers out the budget. Yesterday he was to issue an apology to the Senate for the "distraction" of his arrest, but that speech was canceled after many refused to attend.

JMG reader Gavin snapped this billboard on Interstate 90 near Albany, New York. More about the sponsoring organization can be found here. I love it.