AKA William

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Earlier this week, New York state senator and marriage equality supporter Thomas Duane said he’s received assurances of support from more than the 32 senators needed to approve the state’s marriage equality bill. (Recall that, as of yesterday, only 20 senators have publicly stated that they would vote for it.)

Duane declined to say which senators had agreed to support the bill, but said the list included some Republicans. And that makes homophobic and anti-equality “Democratic” state senator Ruben Diaz Sr. who recently led the anti-gay Manhattan march, a little bit nervous.

Yesterday, he issued a press release accusing Duane of playing “mind games” and demanding that he release the names of the senators who support marriage equality.

Sounds like someone’s out of the loop . . . .

Read Diaz’s crazed press release.

“If Senator Tom Duane has the necessary Senate votes to pass the homosexual marriage bill in New York State, then he should release the names of those Senators who are supporting the bill. If not, he should shut up.

“If any member of the State Senate is so ashamed to have their names released or to release their own names for this or for any pending legislation, then they clearly feel ashamed of their position.”

“If any Senators are unwilling to release their names prior to voting for the homosexual marriage bill, they are sending a clear message to the gay community and to the whole State of New York that these Senators are unwilling to let the public know and that they are ashamed to be publicly associated with the gay community.”

“Any Senator who commits himself or herself to something, should be man or woman enough to take a stand and stand by his or her convictions. If they give their word to support something that they are ashamed of, then that is a hypocrisy, and could be interpreted as not wanting to be associated with the matter.”

“It is a disgrace that Senator Duane is playing this mind game with his colleagues and with the public. If Senator Duane has the votes, he should release the names. If not, then he should be ashamed of himself.”