Councilwoman Margarita Lopez announced yesterday that although she is not looking to get married, she is ready to go to jail, if necessary, to support same-sex marriage.
Lopez, whose absence from the homosexual marriage polemic had been noted, reappeared with a vengeance on the steps of the municipal government building.
“I have come here today to say that the existing law is unjust and illegal, just like the law that denied women the right to vote,” she said at the onset of her speech. “When women broke that law, they were put in jail.”
Lopez was surrounded by members of LACA (Latinos Against the Constitutional Amendment), a coalition founded recently in the heat of the same-sex marriage debate.
“I am not telling anyone they should break the law, the way so many have been recommending others to do in recent days, but I am willing to break the law myself. Any law that is unjust must be eliminated and disobeyed,” she said emotionally. “In matters of civil rights, it is your conscience that should guide your actions.”
Then she dropped the bomb; “I’m on my way to Office of the City Clerk to register so I can perform marriages. And, will marry same-sex partners, and I will break the law!” she said to a prolonged applause. “For any homosexual person in this community or in the city who wishes to get married, I will perform the marriage. Let them put me in jail.”
And as promised, Lopez, followed by dozens of people, went to City Clerk Victor Robles’ office, where numerous gay couples had been waiting since 8 a.m., to get marriage licenses.
While some cued up to get their licenses, only to leave the Clerk’s office with a copy of the law invalidating gay marriages in New York State, close to 500 protesters marched outside under the rain, holding signs and chanting pro-same-sex marriage slogans.
“Under the Constitution, we are all equal. If the law prohibits us from getting married, then we are being discriminated against,” said Daniel Reyes, a Harlem resident and a director of emergency services. An unhappy Curtis Wollbright, his partner, stood nearby holding the paper they had received from the City Clerk’s office.
In response, Mayor Bloomberg said: “If you want to change the law, then go to Albany. Anyone who recommends that you break the law is unraveling the fabric of this society. Barney Frank said: Obey the law and then change it.’”
Robles also put a halt to Lopez’s plans by informing her that only the City Council president could approve her registration to perform marriages. Lopez went off to City Hall where she put in her application in Gifford Miller’s office. Rumor has it that it caused quite an uproar.
“We are reviewing her application. That’s all we can say at the moment,” said Fred Baldassaru, Miller’s spokesperson. Others say that a discomfited Miller asked Lopez: “What do you want me to do?”
Miller, who has his sights on the mayor’s office, joined in the demands to Bloomberg to legalize same-sex marriages. However, it is something quite different to take responsibility and open the way for its legalization in New York City. Margarita Lopez is the first openly-gay Latina to be elected to the City Council.
