Lobby Day

I went to the capitol building today for Lobby Day, sponsored by Love Makes a Family. We started off at 10:00 with general information, and listening to a few of the legislators talk about the introduction of the marriage equality bill this year. Rep. Mike Lawlor gave probably the most passionate speech about the inevitability of marriage equality for gay couples. He said that Tuesday night to members of Greater New Haven Young Democrats, but his message this morning to us was the same.

With legislative battles yet to come on the issue of gay marriage in Connecticut, State Rep. Mike Lawlor told members of the Greater New Haven Young Democrats at a downtown gathering Tuesday night that approval of a bill instituting statewide gay marriage is “inevitable.”

Lawlor, who heads the legislature’s Judiciary Committee and represents East Haven, spoke alongside Tom Ude (pictured) of the grassroots advocacy group Love Makes A Family. He made clear his opinion that though gay marriage has again become an issue in Hartford, it need not be, simply for the reason that, one way or another, gay marriage will be a reality. “Either the courts are going to do it, or the legislature’s doing to do it,” he said. (source)

He’s right. Eventually, this will happen. He says it will happen within two years. Yet, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell has stated that she will veto the bill if it should reach her desk. I recall last time she threatened a veto IF the current civil union bill advocated “marriage”, that she would veto the bill because she is “old fashioned about such things.” Pardon me, but isn’t that a rather lame excuse to put a class of people into second-class status? Shouldn’t you try to remove your own pet prejudices from the equation and see the arguments based on merit, instead of your personal prejudices?

So, my question to Betty Gallo, the lobbyist for Love Makes a Family was simply this... “The Governor has stated that when the marriage equality bill reaches her desk, she will veto the bill. Should we stop by to talk to her?” Betty said that it’s unlikely the Governor would meet with us, which is true, but I thought it might be good for her to hear that we are at least a bit peeved about it.

Well, I decided the Governor was probably not the best use of my time. I stopped by my representative’s office, along with that of my senator. In each case, they were in committee. I left my written statement to both, and left.

The really bizarre thing about the whole experience is that the “other side” - you know, the people who are trying to “protect” marriage from the likes of gay couples, were also having their lobby day today. This was no coincidence. When they heard that Love Makes a Family were doing this today, they scheduled theirs as well on the same day. It was strange to see them react to us. We had these big stickers stuck to our jackets that said,

So, every time I would pass one of them, I’d usually get this glare of contempt. I hissed at them, and moved on (but in a polite way). We were asked to be nice and polite, which I believe is the best thing for everyone. Will my legislator hear or care what I had to say? I’m not sure. I’m told they do care. We’ll see how they vote. One of the things suggested was to invite our legislators over to dinner. My representative is a Republican. Do I serve steak or fish? I’m thinking red meat.

I suppose if I wanted to be really creative, I could serve faggots, a rather bizarre British dish, that sounds rather disgusting to me. But it would probably not be very politically correct to serve that. I mean, how on earth would Miss Manners inform the guests about dinner... “We’ll be having faggots for dinner.”? Yup, that’s a show stopper.