Well, we really didn’t meet with “the man.” We actually met with his staff, but the experience was a good one. On Monday, the young activists of the North Van trekked to the New York State Capitol Building in order to kickoff the Right to Marry Campaign to address issues surrounding marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the State of New York. We met with Rebecca Rodriguez, the Legislative Fellow in charge of human and civil rights for Senate Majority Leader, Senator Joe Bruno.

Initially, we had been unable to schedule a meeting with the Senator’s office at all. The meeting on Monday came as a pleasant surprise, although we wished we had been able to meet with the Senator himself.

During the meeting we discussed many issues. Brian Murphy, a native of Maryland who is moving to New York City in the near future, spoke of how his ability to marry will affect his life as a person and as a future citizen of the state.

When it was my turn to speak I called upon higher American ideals of liberty and equality, explaining to Ms. Rodriguez that American jurisprudence has shown that the promise of “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” includes the right to marry a person of one’s own choosing. I urged Ms. Rodriguez to remind Senator Bruno that his duty as an elected official in this great nation includes ensuring and guaranteeing every citizen the right to life, liberty and happiness.

We were happy to know that Ms. Rodriguez actually had no personal problem with marriage equality for all citizens, although she stressed that it was important for us to continue pushing a conversation within the community. We urged her to remind Senator Bruno that no amount of conversation in the citizenry will matter if their legislators ignore what we feel is among some of the most important matters which affect personally the everyday lives and loves of LGBT people.

Near the end of the meeting Brian offered what would be the beginning of what – we hope – is a massive state-wide campaign empowering the citizens of New York to tell Senator Bruno their personal stories about why marriage is important to them. Brian offered Senator Bruno a pair of his shoes, along with his personal story, asking the Senator to “Walk a Mile a in my Shoes.”

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