Posted: June 29th, 2011 | Author: Mae | 2 Comments »
Gay marriage passed in New York with the help of some unlikely allies. One of them was Republican Senator Stephen Saland, pictured here in front of what appears to be a very nice field of blurry flowers:
Now that is the smile of someone who supports his gay friends and definitely does not have pollen allergies!
Today, the New York Daily News interviewed Saland about his gay marriage stance.
“There was no magical moment where I blinked and all of a sudden the decision was made,” he said. “It as a long deliberative process.”
Saland also noted that his wife, Linda, played an important role in his decision.
Linda Saland has strongly supported gay marriage for years, he said. Advocates said they first felt confident the vote would pass when they say her show at the Capitol to watch an expected vote on the issue a day before it actually passed.
She wound up meeting with Gov. Cuomo hours before the vote on Friday.
“Most of the groups who came to lobby me in favor were either aware or made aware by me that they had someone in my house, my wife of nearly 46 years, who was certainly lobbying me on behalf of marriage equality,” Saland said.
Should Friendfactor introduce a new subsidiary, Wifefactor? Discuss in the comments, even though the answer is obviously yes!
Posted: June 28th, 2011 | Author: Mae | No Comments »
Since the freedom to marry bill passed in New York, the state’s freedom index for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people has risen from 67% to 70%; for transgender people, it has risen from 50% to 53%. This is great news—three percent is nothing to scoff at. Imagine if 3% of a house fell on you–very uncomfortable, and suggestive of shoddy construction!
Despite New York’s new freedom index, though, there is a ton of work left to do before our gay* friends have the same rights straight people do. Learn more by exploring our Freedom Index page.
You can also sign our Liberty Pledge here and promise to help your gay* friends win the freedom to marry!
And, to close on a mostly unrelated note, here is the Daily Show segment on New York Pride. Everyone is so patient with the interviewer guy (who is apparently also in Book of Mormon?) that it is actually touching as well as funny:
Posted: June 27th, 2011 | Author: Mae | No Comments »
Congratulations, New York! In case you refuse to read any news source other than the Friendfactor blog, the freedom to marry bill passed Friday night, 33-29, just in time for Pride weekend. There’s a lot to say about marriage and Pride and Pride’s amazing synchronized flag twirling team (how were they SO GOOD?!), but I think a picture really is worth a thousand words in this case:
It’s the empire state building!
To keep the momentum from our New York win going, sign the Friendfactor pledge to help your gay friends in other states win marriage equality. Sign here! And once you’ve signed, share the pledge with your friends. We’re trying to get to 1,000 signatures. Ready, set… GO!
Posted: December 7th, 2010 | Author: Friendfactor | No Comments »
A huge thank you and group hug for the 250+ “Ffriends” that turned out for Thursday’s Friendraiser at Splash in NYC. We raised more than $7,000 in critical funds for the Friendfactor Foundation—and met a club-load of amazing people and great friends.
Thanks for your generosity, and for showing us that creating fun ways for straight people to support their friends can be a powerful tool to build a bigger base of support. You are helping to dramatically accelerate change for all of us—thank you!
And now, the incriminating pictures courtesy of our “Ffriend” Jamie McGonnigal at Talk About Equality:
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