Freshman state Senator Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, may have once been a Democrat, but he is unlikely to vote on same-sex marriage the same way his Democratic predecessor, Antoine Thompson, did.
Grisanti's position on the issue was pushed into the limelight recently when pop sensation Lady Gaga used an appearance in Buffalo to urge fans to contact the senator about this issue.
In the wake of that advocacy, Grisanti reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage, which he said stems from his Catholic beliefs. (His position had been previously espoused in 2008 when Grisanti was primarying Thompson.) "To me, 'marriage' is between a man and a woman," he said. "It’s a term that’s been around for thousands of years and [applying it to same-sex unions] is like calling a cat a dog. I don’t think that needs to be changed."
The line about cats and dogs drew the ire of his Democratic colleague Tom Duane, who is the only openly gay senator, who characterized Grisanti's comments as "sad and unfortunate."
This would all seem to definitively indicate that Grisanti is another no vote on same-sex marriage. This in addition to the other new senators we've covered, Zeldin, Avella, Kruger's eventual absence and Ball shows that same-sex marriage still has a long way to go.
Stay tuned for more profiles on new senators and some that may be waffling on the issue...
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