CSEA, PEF AND PRIDE AT WORK JOIN MENY AND TAKE THEIR MESSAGE TO THE STREETS

Hundreds of activists and marchers including members from CSEA, PEF, SEIU 1199 and Pride At Work rally for marriage equality in Rochester, N.Y. on Sunday, September 26.

(Photos by Ove Overmyer.  Click on images for a larger view.)

Rochester, N.Y.-- Well over 300 people of all ages, most carrying rainbow umbrellas, rallied in front of the Monroe County Office Building on West Main Street and then marched across the river and back to Genesee Crossroads Park for a community festival on Sunday afternoon, September 26.  To see a slideshow of this event, you can go here.

The group called Marriage Equality New York (MENY), which is an all-inclusive organization whose mission is to educate the public by raising awareness of the important right of all persons to enter into legally recognized gender neutral civil marriage. Without marriage, committed same-sex couples are denied over 1,138 federal rights and obligations including social security, workplace rights, hospital visitation, co-parenting rights, estate tax, and immigration, just to name a few.  The first wedding march organized by MENY was in Brooklyn in 2003.

MENY also held wedding marches in Buffalo and Brooklyn yesterday.  An event in the Albany area is scheduled for Saturday, October 16. A wedding march across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge was also held on September 26, sponsored by Marriage Equality USA.

Several people spoke at the rally, including Harry Bronson, candidate for NYS Assembly for the 131st District, and Robin Wilt, candidate for NYS Senate in the 56th District. Young people from the Civil Rights Front held signs up for passing motorists while drivers honked in support.

Assembly candidate Bronson, who is also the Monroe County Democratic Minority Leader of the County Legislature said, “Despite the culture war, this is a civil rights issue… It’s time for inclusion, not exclusion. Every step you take today takes you closer to full equality.” He ridiculed the Republican claim that civil unions are an adequate substitute for legal marriage, noting, “Separate is NOT equal!”

Tom Privitere speaks on the steps
of the Monroe County Office
Building on September 26.

Tom Privitere, a staff member of the Public Employees Federation (PEF) who doubles as the Vice President of the Rochester and Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride At Work, spoke at the rally in front of the Monroe County Office Building. He said, “Unions are at the forefront of human rights, people’s rights and workers’ rights. DOMA (the anti-gay federal Defense of Marriage Act) is an abomination to those of us who pay taxes and work every day. We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

To that end, activists from many different labor unions, including CSEA, AFSCME, IBEW, SEIU 1199 and PEF will have the opportunity to make history once again this week by attending a march in Washington, D.C..  Community activsts from all wallks of life, including a long list of who's who in the labor and LGBTQ circles, plus numerous civil rights, environmental, immigrant, faith and peace groups stand unified as One Nation Working Together. Let's say no to the politics of division and yes to jobs, justice, equality and peace for all people.

You can still join your CSEA brothers and sisters and many other civic groups as we rally in Washington, DC -- together with the NAACP, AFL-CIO and over 150 organizations in total. Call the CSEA Region 6 office at 716.691.6555 today for more information. 

The current economy is a devastating time for many folks and those facing discrimination take an even harder hit. LGBTQ working families and particularly LGBT people of color are dramatically more likely to be working poor or living in poverty.  If there was ever a time for action, it is now.





Marchers gather in front of the Monroe County Office Building in Rochester, N.Y.  to rally for workplace rights and marriage equality on September 26.  Some of these same activists will take their energy and action to our nation's capital on October 2.