Tuesday, January 10, 2012

NY Marriage Equality passes & Rochester Celebrates 6-25-11

Equality Rochester anchored the New Yorkers United for Marriage coalition that worked at the grassroots level in Rochester during the final push for NY marriage. The coalition included Human Rights Campaign organizers James Bragg & Errin Doyle, Marriage Equality New York - Rochester Chapter Head Jo Meleca-Voigt, Pride at Work AFL-CIO Rochester President Bess Watts, Empire State Pride Agenda  organizer Alden Bashaw and Todd Plank and Anne Tischer as co-leads for Equality Rochester. There were many hard-working volunteers, notable among them being Courtney Michie and Denise Finnerty of MENY and Jenn Schwab of HRC. Metro Justice provided great support and was the site of the weekly meetings that occurred in the 6 months prior to passage of the bill. At the peak this small group was gathering over 1000 letters a week for our State Senators and generating 300 phone calls from the public using a multitude of venues including the public market, any and all pubic gatherings and festivals like the Lilac Festival, Fairport Canal Days, and the Great Rib Fest. Letters were also gathered from colleges, at arts performances, club meetings, at union meetings and during church fellowship hours.
Marriage passed and the governor signed the law on June 24 2011. Rochester celebrated at Washington Square Park on June 25, 2011.    WE DID IT!!!

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