Same Sex Marriage Drama Plays Out In Ledyard, NY

-by Randy Borntrager

Remember the great victory for LGBT couples in New York? Yep... marriage equality finally got passed and we all rejoiced and thought sane, rational people finally scored a big blow against discrimination that would resonate throughout America.

Little did we know that the dismantling of the new law could be possible at the local level. The first test of the law comes not in the court room-- although it could end up there-- but in Ledyard, a little town in the Finger Lakes region near Ithaca.

Enter Rose Belforti, a local town clerk, who has refused to process same sex marriage applications. She hides behind her new found religion, as if clerks who process marriage applications are less Christian. (She was a devoted Buddhist for a good part of her life and then lost her way.) She cited her religion as a reason to not process a lesbian couple’s marriage application and forced them to the back of the line by requiring them to come back when she could hire a deputy clerk to do her job (That's the couple, Kate and DeeDee, on the right.) The story has riveted this small community and the nation and inspired a local resident, Ed Easter, to run as a write-in candidate against her.

The election is next Tuesday, a week from today, and already some big hitters are lining up to help Rose. They are doing everything they can to fight the new law and are actively helping her election. There are only about 1,000 voters in the town, and so it is extremely important to get Ed the resources he needs to win and send a signal to other bigoted and discriminatory politicians that there will be ramifications for their shameful actions. If you run for office to be a government official, you simply can’t be allowed to pick and choose which laws she follows. What’s next? A police officer who won’t enforce the law because of their religion?

It’s time to stop the shenanigans, and kick this deranged lady, who brags, without a trace of irony, about her alternative lifestyle, out. The first part of their debate is above and the rest of it is here and Ed's donate button is on the right side of that page.