By Evelyn Bailey
This month Shoulders To Stand On focuses on the last two of the four Republican Senators who turned the tide on passing Marriage Equality here in New York State.
They were not the only Senators who voted for Marriage Equality. They are however the only Republican Senators and those with the most to lose. Those opposed to Marriage Equality are committed to defeating these men when they run for re-election. Their courage in standing and speaking out for what they believed was right needs to be acknowledged by publicly standing with them.
Sen. Roy J. McDonald was born and raised in the Lansingburgh section of Troy, N.Y. He currently resides with his family in Saratoga County. Roy graduated from the Lansingburgh Public School System and received his Associate Degree from Hudson Valley Community College. He earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees from the State University of New York at Oneonta. Both schools have honored Roy with Distinguished Alumni Awards. Roy is a banker by profession, and is proud of his career journey, which began several years ago as a laborer in the same local steel mill that employed his father and many other relatives who also worked as laborers.
A decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Roy served as an Artillery Forward Observer with the U. S. Army’s First Cavalry Division. He participated in numerous combat assaults on the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border, as well as in Cambodia itself. Roy is a member of the Saratoga VFW, Saratoga American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and the Lansingburgh Veterans Association.
Roy, a Republican politician, was elected to the 43rd Senate District in 2008. Before being elected to the Senate in 2008, he had served in the New York State Assembly since 2002, representing the 112th District. For 23 years, Roy was Town and County Supervisor for the Town of Wilton, New York playing a major role in the extremely successful economic development of Wilton. As a member of the Board of Supervisors, he proposed the County Budget, which led to the success of Saratoga County being the lowest taxed county in the State.
During his campaign in 2010, when asked, “Do you support the legalization of same-sex marriage?” Roy McDonald answered, “Although I did not vote for same-sex marriage I am very supportive of protecting individual rights and am in favor of civil unions, similar to the view of President Obama. I look forward to working on new approaches on this issue to come to a resolution that will be acceptable to all those involved.”
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, Sen. Roy McDonald said he would support the legalization of gay marriage should it come to the floor this week bringing passage of the bill to within a single vote. “I think I’m doing the right thing, it’s the appropriate thing, and if the public respects that, I’m grateful,” Mr. McDonald said as reporters pressed him in the Capitol for his decision. “If they don’t, then I move on.”
Mr. McDonald’s announcement followed a declaration by a Republican colleague, James S. Alesi of Monroe County, that he would also support the bill. Three Senate Democrats who had voted against the measure two years ago also said they would vote for it this year.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo introduced his bill to both houses of the Legislature, a step he said earlier this year he would not take unless he were confident of a victory. His measure would allow same-sex couples from anywhere in the nation to marry in New York beginning 30 days from passage.
On June 16, 2011, McDonald spoke to the press on his intended support for New York State’s upcoming vote on same-sex marriage. In response to the pressure he was receiving from other Republicans to vote against the measure, and from the Conservative Party, anti-gay marriage groups, and religious leaders, McDonald gave a statement to the press which included a remarkable quote.
“You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing,” McDonald, 64, told reporters. “You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it; I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing. I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”
On that same day, June 16, 2011 Senator Andrew J. Lanza of Staten Island, along with Senators Kemp Hannon of Long Island and Stephen M. Saland of Poughkeepsie, met with the governor. Lanza said, “The concern that I have expressed, and others have expressed, is that we don’t want to create a vehicle that will allow anyone to make a challenge, to erode, what I think is a fundamental American freedom, and that is the freedom of expression when it comes to religion.” Mr. Saland said that he was undecided.
Stephen M. Saland was born Nov. 12, 1943. A native of Poughkeepsie, Saland earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University at Buffalo in 1965 and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School in 1968. He maintains a law practice in Poughkeepsie, where he is of counsel to Gellert & Klein, P.C. He is also a member of the Dutchess County Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.
Saland worked as a legislative aide to a New Jersey Assemblyman, and later as an executive assistant to New York Assemblyman Emeel Betros, with whom Saland later became law partners. He began his own career in public service as a town councilman in Wappinger. In April 1980, Saland was elected to the New York State Assembly from the 99th District in a special election following the death of Assemblyman Betros.
His first action as a state legislator was to introduce a bill requiring the state to reimburse school districts for interest debts they incurred from borrowing money because of New York’s budget crisis. He was elected in his own right in November 1980, and served in the State Assembly until 1990, when he was elected to the New York State Senate to represent the 41st District.
On Tuesday, June 22, 2011, the Huffington Post printed an Open Letter to Senator Saland. Excerpts follow:
“Dear Senator Saland,
“I am hoping that in the last hours of your deliberative process I have a chance to speak with you on the issue that fate (or heaven if you will) has put in your hands. I am an Orthodox rabbi, ordained at Yeshiva University. I am also the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi in the U.S. and have written a book on the topic, “Wrestling with God and Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition,” which won the Koret Award for Philosophy and Thought. I share this with you so that my personal stake is made clear from the start. My partner and I cannot marry in New York state and the consequences are significant for us and our seven-month-old daughter, Amalia. I would be very happy to speak with you about this anytime. … It is time for New York State to do what is right on this matter. The unfair distribution of these legal goods is already a violation of principles that we hold dear.
“Senator Saland, you are a direct descendant of Rabbi Shmuel Salant who was known for his good sense and, for the times, his liberal sense of goodness and fairness. Unlike others, he honored all the Jews in Jerusalem, not only the powerful. He intentionally built his leadership on an inclusive vision of the community. I do hope that you make a similar choice, one that opens the way for my family and families like it to share in the goods of liberty and justice for all.
“Rabbi Steven Greenberg, Director of CLAL Diversity Project and Director of Orthodox Programs at Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture & Spirituality”
By Tuesday, June 22, Gov. Cuomo had received separate assurances of support from two crucial Republicans, Mark Grisanti of Buffalo and Stephen M. Saland of Poughkeepsie, either of whose endorsements could secure passage of the historic legislation. But neither man wanted to be the decisive 32nd vote. The governor settled on a strategy: he informed both that another unnamed Republican would cast a yes vote, meaning that neither Mr. Grisanti nor Mr. Saland would technically be No. 32. In the case of Mr. Grisanti, the other Republican was Mr. Saland; in the case of Mr. Saland, it was Mr. Grisanti, though Gov. Cuomo did not tell them this, respecting their wishes for confidentiality.
At the last minute, however, Mr. Grisanti wavered, fearing the bill did not have enough exemptions for religious organizations, and told Gov. Cuomo he was rethinking his position. “Without those exemptions, I’m having a hard time supporting this measure,” he told the governor. The governor summoned Mr. Saland and delivered the news: he might be the 32nd vote after all. Could he live with that?
Reluctantly, Gov. Cuomo said he would understand if Mr. Saland backed out of his commitment to vote yes. Mr. Saland said he needed to think it over. After hours of anxious waiting, Gov. Cuomo heard back. If the governor needed him to be the 32nd vote, Mr. Saland told Gov. Cuomo, he would be the 32nd vote. “I will be there for you,” Mr. Saland said.
Supporters of gay marriage finally felt confident of how Stephen Saland would vote when his wife showed up Thursday, June 23 to watch a vote that didn’t happen. Linda Saland was spotted in the Senate chamber to watch her husband, Sen. Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) cast the deciding 32nd vote.
“She wasn’t coming to watch her husband vote ‘no,’” said a source familiar with the Salands. After the vote didn’t happen, Linda Saland stuck around Albany. And on Friday, advocates of gay marriage took her to meet with Gov. Cuomo.
On Friday, June 24 it was reported that Sen. Stephen Saland of Poughkeepsie was also undecided, saying, “I’m getting there,” according to New York Times Albany Bureau Chief Danny Hakim via Twitter. Then at 10:30 pm on June 24, Sen. Saland became the critical 32nd vote, telling his colleagues in an emotional address that he believed the issue came down to a question of equality.
“I know my vote is a vote of conscience,” he told a hushed chamber. “I am at peace with my vote. It was a struggle. It was an extraordinary deliberation.”
And so on Friday, June 24, 2011, Stephen Saland was there for Governor Andrew Cuomo. Both Mr. Saland and Mr. Grisanti voted for the marriage bill — neither of them officially being the 32nd.
These two Republican Senators, Roy J. McDonald and Stephen M. Saland, made the passage of the Marriage Equality Bill a reality. Now it is time to help make their continued support a reality. Shoulders To Stand On asks all New Yorkers TO BE THERE for Senators Jim Alesi, Mark Grisanti, Roy McDonald, and Stephen Saland.
Shoulders To Stand On is proud to stand with these four courageous Republican Senators who DID THE RIGHT THING — and asks YOU to do the same.