Shoulders to Stand On

Senators Alesi and Grisanti

By Evelyn Bailey

This month and next month’s Shoulders To Stand On will focus on the four Republican Senators who turned the tide on passing Marriage Equality here in New York State.

They were not the only Senators who voted for Marriage Equality.  They are, however, the only Republican Senators and those with the most to lose. Those opposed to Marriage Equality are committed to defeating these men when they run for re-election. Their courage in standing and speaking out for what they believed was right needs to be acknowledged by publicly standing with them.

Senators McDonald and Saland

By Evelyn Bailey

This month Shoulders To Stand On focuses on the last two of the four Republican Senators who turned the tide on passing Marriage Equality here in New York State.

They were not the only Senators who voted for Marriage Equality.  They are however the only Republican Senators and those with the most to lose. Those opposed to Marriage Equality are committed to defeating these men when they run for re-election. Their courage in standing and speaking out for what they believed was right needs to be acknowledged by publicly standing with them.

The History of Marriage Equality in New York State

by Evelyn Bailey

For many of us our overwhelming consumption with working for Marriage Equality in New York, has not left much time to look at the history of this movement in New York State which actually began with the women's rights movement in the United States at a convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, calling for legal equality for women.  The document asserted that "all men and women are created equal" and deserve equal rights, including the franchise and equality within marriage.  The Fight for Marriage Rights has continued in New York for the past 163 years.

38 DAYS AGO ON JUNE 24, 2011 THE FIGHT FOR MARRIAGE ENDED IN VICTORY.  Marriage Equality is now a reality for the Rochester  and  New York  LGBT community.  The complete dated history of this struggle can be found on line.  Shoulders To Stand On would like to look at the preceding months leading up to the passage of this historic legislation.

Matters of the Heart

by Evelyn Bailey
The first fully recognized gay marriage in modern history took place in the Netherlands in 1989 which received full governmental recognition.

Moving ahead in time the Netherlands which has long been one of the most socially open and progressive nations on the planet was the first to bestow the right of gay marriage in 2001.

Women's History - The Early 1970s

by Evelyn Bailey

A friend of mine, Tilda Hunting, is trying to downsize.  In her efforts to accomplish this, she has boxed up a number of books on lesbianism, homosexuality, and the feminist women’s movement.  In this collection that she is generously giving to the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, there were a number of “newsletters” titled The Ladder; copies of a litereary magazine The 13th Moon; a couple of issues of Community, A Publication by Gay People; published bi-monthly by the Capital District Gay Community Council, Albany, New York; and many more “goodies”. 

Given our most recent vote in Connecticut for recognition legally of same sex marriages, I decided to peruse these periodicals for a story about the issue of marriage equality.  There in the Amazon Quarterly, Vol.3 #2 was an article titled Womanlove by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.