By James Lane

“Respect For Diversity” is one of the Green Party’s Ten Key Values as per City Council candidate Lynne Serpe’s campaign web site, and her participation in this past weekend’s Rally for Marriage Equality at Athens Square Park in Astoria was very well received. She was among the 2,500 people who came out in support of same-sex marriage.

“The turnout was inspiring. If anyone had a question about whether Astorians care about this issue or support same-sex marriage, they only needed to see the huge crowd of people who rallied in support,” said Ms. Serpe. “Unfortunately, several local elected officials were not present to hear the amazing array of speakers share their compelling stories about being denied basic civil rights or having to travel outside the country in order to get married.”

Last week, Ms. Serpe invited the members of Community Board 1 to write letters in support of same-sex, gender neutral marriage to State Senator Onorato, one of the crucial votes needed in the State Senate. She has already received an unsatisfactory reply from Onorato’s office in response to her letter urging his support and vows to continue to fight for marriage equality.

“The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is in a local, state and national struggle for justice,” she said. “Whether equal protection from job discrimination and housing to marriage rights, the LGBT community is actively engaged in a political, social, and cultural battle to break out of second class citizenship and enjoy the full and just protections afforded by the law and the Constitution of the United States.”

For more information about marriage equality, visit http://www.meny.us

For more information about Lynne Serpe’s campaign for City Council in District 22, visit http://www.SerpeForCouncil.com

This entry was posted on June 1, 2009 at 1:04 pm and is filed under News, Political News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.