ALBANY – Freshman Sen. Mark Grisanti says there’s nothing to apologize for remarks he made about gay marriage, and that a Senate colleague took his critique out of context.
Grisanti on a public radio show this week outlined his opposition to a gay marriage measure, noting, in part, that the term “marriage’’ has been around thousands of years and is between a man and woman.
"It’s like calling a cat a dog," Grisanti, a Buffalo Republican, said on the Capitol Pressroom radio show of changing the definition of a word.
But Sen. Thomas Duane, a Manhattan Democrat who is openly gay, called it “truly sad and unfortunate’’ that Grisanti compared “my right to marry the person I love with cats and dogs.’’
Duane asked for an apology.
“He’s taking it out of context,’’ Grisanti said, saying he was merely talking about an effort that would change the definition of a word.
Beyond Duane’s focus on Grisanti, the new senator over the weekend was the subject of a shout-out by Lady Gaga during her Buffalo concert, at which she urged people to contact Grisanti to get him to support the gay marriage effort.
-- Tom Precious
