Demonstrators Hold Rallies To Call For Same-Sex Marriage Referendum
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- A sea of people rallied outside Governor Cuomo's office and in cities across New York State, as the first weddings uniting same sex couples were performed, Marcia Kramer reports.
By far the largest group marched to the United Nations to demand that all New Yorkers, all 20 million residents, not just the 212 members of the legislature, be given a say on whether same-sex marriage should be legal.
"Two percent of the population is dominating 98 percent of the people's will. For a governor and a mayor and a city council to override the will of the people, they work for us and should have never decided for New Yorkers," protester Desiree Bernstein said.
Also on hand were members of the organization Connecting Rainbows, which supports gay marriage and the Westboro Baptist Church, who are opposed. They showed up outside the Manhattan City Clerk's Office as well.
"They're driving a stake into the heart of the most holy of covenants that God created and it's going to bring on the doom of this nation," said Ben Phelps of Topeka, Kansas.
"It's plainly against God's law and every New Yorker knows it," said Margie Phelps.
Maybe because he was trying to avoid the protestors, Governor Cuomo held an event that was closed to the press but designed to trumpet his success in passing the the Marriage Equality Bill.
"People will have the right, inheritance rights, hospital visitation rights, insurance rights, pension rights," he said. "Equality and dignity and non-discrimination and acceptance and non-judgmentalism that is what it was really about."
Cuomo said same sex marriage is a victory for all New Yorkers because it shows the state accepts people from all places and their differences.
Should New York State have held a referendum on same-sex marriage? Sound off in our comments section below…
