Gov. David Paterson Challenges Religionists on Morality

The governor's statements led to an immediate rebuke from leaders of various religious organizations statewide.

"That's his right to take a position and say what he wants regarding religious leaders, but our position is not mandated by government. We take our direction from the word of God," said the Rev. Robert L. Sanders Jr., an opponent of gay marriage who is pastor of Greater Refuge Temple of Christ, an influential black church in Buffalo.

Before an Albany crowd of about 2,000 gay and lesbian advocates of marriage-equality laws, the governor and other supporters lashed out at opponents of expanding marital laws as they stepped up efforts to have New York join several other states where gays can legally marry.

While Paterson urged the advocates to show "respect"' to people who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds, he said many critics are suffering from he called a "five-letter word: guilt."

"You see, the fact is that for years these same individuals -- many of them, not all of them, but many of them--who pronounced religious doctrine did not exercise it when young gay and lesbian students were being bullied and chastised for expressing their points of view," Paterson said to the cheering audience, which gave him two standing ovations during his brief appearance.

"Where were these leaders of faith when college students of gay and lesbian orientation were beaten and often brutalized for expressing their feelings to each other?" Paterson said.

The governor also lashed out at religious leaders who were silent when gays were "collectively blamed" for the spread of HIV two decades ago. He then vowed to help in an effort to change the mind-set of New Yorkers on the marriage-equality issue.

"We're not only going to change the laws of New York, but we're going to change the culture of how people treat each other," Paterson told the crowd.

The governor's comments did what some backers of gay marriage privately feared they might -- immediately outrage opponents and ratchet up the rhetoric.

"I believe the governor should immediately apologize to people of faith for those remarks," said Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops and is among the most outspoken opponents of a new push by Paterson and many fellow Democrats to legalize gay marriage. "They're shameful. They're really shameful, and they're not based in any way on fact," he said.

Poust said a Catholic hospital opened the first AIDS clinic in the state in the 1980s and has been vocal in condemning attacks on gays. "The governor should know this, and it's just a very sad thing to hear the governor of the state attack people of faith in this manner," he said.

Other religious groups say Paterson turned to the gay marriage issue as a way to revive his standing in the Democratic Party base after a sharp drop-off in his voter-approval rating that risks his ability to run for governor next year.

"I don't think the governor has much to stand on when using the timing of gay marriage for purposes of political expediency; I don't think he has the moral standing to be talking about this now," said the Rev. Jason J. McGuire, legislative director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, which represents thousands of evangelical churches across the state.

But the Rev. Ellen L. Brauza, vicar at St. John's Episcopal Church in Youngstown, who came with the bus-loads of gay marriage supporters from Buffalo to lobby at the Capitol on Tuesday, said her understanding of the gospel leads her to support equal marriage rights no matter the sexual orientation.

"It's just not right that I have protections that they don't," she said of gays who want to marry.

The gay marriage bill is scheduled to pass again Monday in the Assembly. But with a razor-thin, 32-30 advantage by Democrats in the Senate, the bill's fate is uncertain because several Democrats, including Sen. William T. Stachowski of Lake View, oppose expanded marriage rights.

That means that the legislation would die this year unless some Republicans support it. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith of Queens has said he won't bring the bill to the floor unless it has the votes to pass; Paterson has said Smith should allow an up-or-down vote.

Among those from the GOP that gay rights groups are targeting is Sen. James S. Alesi of Rochester, who some Republicans say is among those likely to back the bill. Tuesday, several dozen activists surrounded him in the Senate lobby as he listened to their concerns.

In an interview, Alesi said, "It is not my job" to help Smith and Paterson resolve the issue. Since Democrats took control of the Senate in January, Republicans say they have been treated shabbily. Now, GOP lawmakers say, they are happy to watch the Democrats squirm.

During the gay marriage advocacy day, which was promoted by the Empire State Pride Agenda, supporters say the time is now for New York to join Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Canada in enacting marriage-equality laws.

"We're so tired of waiting for equality," said Kitty Lambert, president of Outspoken for Equality, a gay rights group from Buffalo.

Lambert said she wants to marry her partner of 10 years in New York.

"I'm not a Canadian. Why would I go there to get married?" she said. "I want to stand in my own home with my family and my clergy marrying me."