Albany, NY – Thousands of opponents of gay marriage took to the streets in loud and sometimes tense protests Sunday, the first day that legal same-sex weddings were performed.
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The National Organization for Marriage held rallies in New York City, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo, saying Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers redefined marriage without giving voters a chance to weigh-in, as they have in other states. Protesters chanted “Let the People Vote!” at rallies across the state.
A rally in New York City that started with several hundred people crowding the street across from Cuomo’s Manhattan office quickly swelled to thousands of people out in loud opposition to the new law.
They waved signs saying “Excommunicate Cuomo” and “God cannot be mocked.”
“We’re not against anybody, but we don’t want his imposed on us,” he said, stressing the National Organization for Marriage’s theme for the rally. “We’re looking for a referendum, an opportunity to have our fair say.”
New York City protesters and others across upstate chanted “Let the people vote!” referring to referendums that have succeeded in stalling or repealing gay marriage in other states. New York does not have an easy way for voters to bring a measure directly to the ballot box, meaning such a maneuver to repeal gay marriage here will be difficult.
“I’m here for God’s sake,” said Steve Rosner, 65, of the Lower East Side. “To sanctify same-sex marriage is an abomination. It’s beyond belief.”
Around 3:30, the protesters started marching uptown toward the United Nations. By the time they reached the UN, the crowd numbered in the many thousands, filling up 47th Street. They were joined by a brass band.
“I’m worried that the younger generations will think this is normal, and it’s not,” said Gloria Sanchez, 35, of Brooklyn. “It’s wrong. It’s a sin.”
Jewish protester Heshy Friedman carried a pig mask “because the law’s not Kosher.” He said he worried that Muslim groups might push to legalize polygamy next.
Power to them! though that last sentence from the AP is merely an antisemitic swipe!
Why was this rally not publicized by the Jewish community?! Tell me it wasn’t $!
The fact that these marriages have “officially” become recognized by a government body in the United States is sick beyond belief.
Unfortunately, there is no way to explain or to express how wrong this is. People have become so immune and liberal, that it is not possible to even voice your opinion, lest you be called a racist and a bigot.
The liberals have literally brought this great country to its knees. How sad.
Where were all of these protests a few months back? Why didn’t everyone make a big deal about this BEFORE the vote? Why do we continue to support people like Sheldon Silver who make a mockery of being a frum Yid? (Becasue he gets some special interest groups some extra state cash??)
Great thing, let’s all let our voices be heard! We can’t let new york become Sedomized, unless you want it to end up where Sedom ended up. Let’s all vote republican its the best way to show our opinion, even there might be politicians that say its not the way to express ourselves its only in there interest to say so, we have to do whatever we could to keep NYS in normality status.
Did the infamous Rabbi Yehuda Levin join the protesters?
Yup, next comes marrying dogs.
It could be quite simple to repeal s-s marriage: elect the right candidates next time. But the economy will be people’s number one issue. I wonder how much the two issues are tied together at a higher level.
Great thing, let’s all let our voices be heard! We can’t let new york become Sedomized, unless you want it to end up where Sedom ended up. Let’s all vote republican its the best way to show our opinion, even there might be politicians that say its not the way to express ourselves its only in there interest to say so, we have to do whatever we could to keep NYS in normality status.
It’s frightening that there is so much blatant disregard for what is sacred and had been so since creation. Who knows what Hashem will do to punish these Sodomites!
The sign suggesting that gay marraige will one day lead to marragine between human and dog is a popular argument of those who oppose gay marraige but it is defective. We know from various sources (the Torah, as one primary example) that the homosexual inclination has been around since the beginning of time. And the fact is that in the world today there are a significant number of people who are homosexual (whether you agree with them, disagree with them, believe they are committing a terrible sin, whatever) and who wish to enter into a same-sex marraige. By contrast, there is no evidence in any reliable historical source that bestiality was ever practiced by a significant number of people. And when you look around today, there simply is not a significant push by any segnment to legalize marraige between man and a dog. (The fact that there may be someone out there on the internet pushing for that agenda is no proof. There’s out there on the internet at least one person pushing for practically anything under the sun.)
The reason people from our community don’t participate in this is yehuda levin turns them off
In the more then 30 states that had a referendum vote by the people, each and every state voted it down, that is what I’m upset about more then anything, politicians knowing that it wouldn’t pass a real vote, so they jam it down our throats. Let the people vote
Has anyone ever considered that humans are the only species on Earth that couples with the same sex? A human an intellectual species have choice, and a human choose to do something that scientifically does not make sense. Animals act on instinct and make better choices. Man is made for Woman. Woman and Man make mankind. Maybe if they can’t find that special person, they were put on Earth to heal others and not reproduce.
Let us see who is going to be the lucky one to break records 1st gay divorce.
l see it’s sad that you attack yehuda levin,he is fighting for yiddishkeit! l see people do care and we know him when he was a young guy,there’s not to many people willing to go to bat! it takes a certain amount of strength to do this not everyone can
I can add, that when the animals were also starting to have same sex unions as the so-called humans at the time, the fate was sealed for the mabul. Human perverts is abomination in more than 1 religion.
It says that when the ppl will be so low in sin and dirt then Hashem will have to hasten moshiachs arrival… I think that we r there now….
I was at the rally. There were about five thousand mostly hispanic christians with about 100 chassidim at the high point at the UN plaza at about 4 pm. Its a shame that so few yidden were there. Rabbi Levin was there too. At about 630. About a dozen chassidim went to gracie mansion to protest the Blumberg gay marriage event. The leader there was Nuterei karta Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss. It seems like only NK are the new Jewish activist in town. Where was Agudah,ou, satmar etc. I as a flatbush yid davened mincha with them and we had a friendly conversation. What happened to Jewish leadership?
This is ridiculous. This is not a chuppah marriage. This is a civil marriage, which does not count in Judaism anyway. I don’t understand why so many frum Jews are obsessed with the gay lifestyle. We should be focusing on our own mitzvot and middos and issues of child molestation and spousal abuse within our community. Not whether or not the secular world marries, and to whom.
Josh (#14) : Homosexuality tendancies may have been around a long time but so have the tendancy to steal, murder, extort, engage in adultery, slander and lie. The Torah enjoins us to resist these vices. Homosexuality is a ta’ava that G-d tells us to resist–difficult as this may be. It is toxic for our souls.
The reason we must give our lives rather than commit one of the three cardinal sins (idol worship, murder, or adultery) is that these sins irevocably destroy our G-dly souls that we value above our physical lives.