Conservative New York

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:28:32 -0400

In a conversation after yesterday's vote by the New Jersey legislature in favor of civil unions, Garden State Equality chairman Steven Goldstein told me that New York now "lags far behind New Jersey in terms of gay rights," and offered an interesting theory for why that might be the case.

"It might be a sociological phenomenon," he said. "New York has upstate New York, which is a conservative counterpoint to the more progressive New York City, metropolitan area. We don't have a conservative part of New Jersey akin to upstate New York. Northern New Jersey is very demographically similar to New York City. South Jersey is similar to Philadelphia. We're a very urban state, a very progressive state. "

-- Azi Paybarah

Observer » Conservative New York

Conservative New York