Out of 62 senators, there are still 14 that have not stated whether they will vote for or against the bill to give equal rights to same-sex couples wishing to get married. One of those senators is Joseph Addabbo. The eastern Queens Senator is apparently holding out to the very last minute or is not willing to say in case no vote comes to pass. Either way, NY1 tells us people in his district want to know how he feels.
From NY1:
Constituents wanted to hear what freshman State Senator Joseph Addabbo has to say about gay marriage.
"He needs to make a decision, quick," said one Queens resident. "A lot of people are interested in knowing."
But on Friday they did not know, as Addabbo would not respond to the question of how he would vote on legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.
"It's very important," said a constituent. "He needs to say if he is for or against it."
"I really think he should have a position on that; he definitely should have something to say because he's a senator," said another.
"I think he should have a response one way or the other," agreed a third.
NY1 did find a few that thought the opposite, but said they were few and far between. Now whether or not he follows those three voters' advice is another thing, but Addabbo will probably stay silent if he hasn't said anything already. Perhaps because he is a new Democrat in the district (Republican Serph Maltese represented the area for years and year), he's not up to angering a sizable portion of the community if he doesn't have to.
However, as MENY blogged last November, Joe has been a reliable vote for LGBT issues when he was a Councilmember (though he still hadn't taken a position on same-sex marriage) so perhaps when push comes to shove, he'll vote with the majority of the Democratic caucus and say yes to marriage equality.
Of course, it would be nice to add him to list of yes votes beforehand so residents should keep calling and pressuring him to take a stand regardless of where Addabbo is at now.
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