WE DON'T FORGET: MAGGIE BROOKS AND BILL TAYLOR ARE ANTI-EQUALITY

A February 2008 video clip shows angry citizens on the steps of the Monroe County Office Building protesting Maggie Brooks and Bill Taylor's effort to discriminate against it's workforce. (Video: Grlwolf)

Rochester, N.Y.-- It’s not as if we as public workers have short memories or anything, but three years ago the Brooks administration and County lawyer Bill Taylor filed an appeal to make sure same-sex couples who work for Monroe County would stay second-class citizens. And, they spent gobs of our taxpayer dollars to clog up the courts in their effort to fight their own personal anti-equality culture war.

Here is a quick refresher course on some recent local history:

Martinez v. County of Monroe (50 A.D.3d 189; 850 N.Y.S.2d 740) is a judgment of the Supreme Court of the State of New York which established that a same-sex marriage performed in another state must be recognized by the state of New York. The decision was handed down on February 1, 2008. This was the first court decision that an out-of-state same-sex marriage must be recognized by a state.

In the case, Patricia Martinez, a CSEA Local 828 employee of Monroe Community College in Monroe County, New York married her same-sex partner in Ontario, Canada. She then applied for health benefits based on her marriage and was denied. In February of 2008, the court held that because New York has always recognized out of state marriages of opposite-sex couples, it must do so for same-sex couples as well.

On May 6, 2008, the New York Court of Appeals – the State’s highest court – dismissed Bill Taylor’s and Maggie Brooks application for leave to appeal. The Court of Appeals was reported to have refused leave to appeal because the issue of damages between the Martinez family and Monroe Community College had not been resolved.

This little history lesson demonstrates a fundamental difference between voting for candidates who vow to support all our constituents as equal citizens or those whose who use public office to advance their own personal and political agendas. Frankly speaking, we find it incredibly insulting that our County Executive and County Attorney take our very own taxpayer dollars and turn them around and use those funds to oppress the very people they were sworn to serve.