"We are in a domestic partnership, but a domestic partnership isn't equal to a marriage," said Mawn. "We
are being separated [as a group], it's a form of segregation and it shouldn't be that way."
Jim Smith with Staten Island Stonewall produced his pocket version of the U.S. Constitution and read the
14th Amendment, which guarantees all people equal protection under the law.
"They are denying us, they are going against the Constitution," said Smith, a long-time gay Island activist.
And if homosexuals were able to have the same rights as married couples, then Wayne Shapiro's
heartbreaking loss of his partner of 11 months, Eric Aversa, might have been a little more bearable, since he
would have had full rights to follow his partner's wishes without question. When Aversa, 44, died in June,
Shapiro said, for starters, he was shunned by the family during the service.
"I had his belongings and he [Aversa] made it clear to me whom he wanted to have what, and I followed his
instructions, and his family, his mother and his uncle, were very angry with me, because they felt the
belongings belonged to his mother."
But Assemblyman Lou Tobacco (R-South Shore), who opposes same-sex marriage, said for the governor to
anger senators by asking them to take action now, even as he needs their support on budget matters,
doesn't make political sense.
"This has to be a moral issue for the governor," reasoned Tobacco, "I think he is at a point in his career
where he has been thrown under the bus by members of his own party. It is the action of a man who has
nothing to lose."
Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-North Shore), an openly gay member of the Legislature who supports the
bill, called a vote in the state Senate "premature" because the votes aren't there yet.
Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer (D-East Shore/Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-
Island) support same-sex marriage.
Among the groups participating in the vigil were: Staten Island LGBT Center, the Unitarian Church of Staten
Island, College of Staten Island's Gay/Straight Alliance and Staten Island Parents, Families & Friends of
Lesbians and Gays, as well as Titone's Chief of Staff Chris Bauer
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