Statement by Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle

April 20, 2009—“Siena’s latest poll numbers on where New Yorkers stand on the issue of marriage for same-sex couples make me proud to call the Empire State my home.

Not only are a majority in favor of legalizing marriage for our families, these new numbers establish a clear trend of increasing support, year after year, every time Siena asks about this issue. In the past three years, Siena polling has shown support for marriage equality growing from 43% in 2007 to 46% last year to 53% this year and opposition dropping from 47% in 2007 to 40% last year to just 39% now.

Clearly, New Yorkers are choosing equality for our families. As they continue to talk about this issue around their kitchen tables, they are realizing the magnitude of the harm to families who are denied access to the more than one thousand rights and responsibilities that New York provides with a civil marriage license. They are deciding that their gay and lesbian friends, co-workers, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles deserve what they already have and need to keep their families strong.

It’s time for State Senators who still aren’t with us to look at these results and ask themselves this simple question: Do I want to be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history when the story is written about how marriage equality came to New York State? I think many will want to be on the right side and will want to look back and say, ‘I did the right thing for my constituents and for the people of New York. I stood up for equality.’”