Western Van meets with legislators from Albion and Buffalo

Today was the first day we met with legislators. It was a very busy day. For the past two days, a very generous man named Andy opened his home, heart, and spirit to us, as we stayed there in Rochester with him. We left early this morning because we had a 9:15 breakfast in Albion. We met with a few constituents for breakfast before our meeting with Assemblyman Stephen Hawley. One of the constituents help me set up an interview with a local newspaper about our visit. The more GLBT visibility in that area, the better. A lot of the constituents were straight allies, and it was really interesting to see the issue from a different angle.

Assemblyman Stephen Hawley was our first official meeting so far. Though he voted NO in the NY Assembly, he says he personally supports marriage equality for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Hawley says he only votes based on what his constituents want him to do, though he has never done a poll of Albion residents on this issue, like he has on others. Assemblyman Crystal Peoples was next and she supports marriage equality and voted YES. She says that her job is to interpret “man’s law”, and not “God’s law”. She is very strong in her faith, and believes it is not for anyone to decide what basic rights a person can or cannot have, even if she doesn’t agree with it personally. Finally, we met with Senator Antoine Thompson. This meeting was one of the best. He doesn’t understand why equal marriage rights is such a big deal because it’s just common sense; he voted YES and has our support 100%. We are currently at an empty apartment in Buffalo preparing for our actions in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. A local pastor was extremely generous in letting us use her property for these four nights.