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01/11/2010
NY: One marriage-bucking donkey ducks out of (D) primary
New York state senator George Onorato (D-Queens) was one of the eight Democrats to join the 30 Republicans in voting for marriage inequality. Now, in large part because of that unprincipled vote for bias, the 82 year-old lawmaker is packing up his baggage and leaving Albany:
State Sen. George Onorato, a veteran Queens Democrat, won't seek reelection to the seat he has held since 1983, clearing the way for a run this fall by Assemblyman Michael Gianaris.
At 82, Onorato is the Senate Democrats' oldest member. His recent "no" vote on gay marriage made him vulnerable to a primary challenge, worrying party leaders who urged him to step aside, insiders said
Read more: Albany veteran George Onorato bows out, young foe Michael Gianaris steps in [NYDN]
What can we say? New York Democrats aren't big fans of civil discrimination. With few exceptions, those (D) lawmakers who support bias are turning over the hour glass, waiting for their inevitable unelectability.
Happily, Michael Gianaris is pro-marriage equality. Now if we can just get him into office, then reform or replace Sen. Shirley L. Huntley, Sen. Hiram Monserrate, and Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr, "Flushing Queens" can go back to being just a neighborhood, and not a clever headline for the way the boroughs' Dems act towards the gay community.