Assemblyman Dov Hikind just emailed me a statement in response to an earlier statement from gay rights activist Alan Van Capelle slamming him for opposing same-sex marriage.
Capelle, responding to a column in the Daily News by Errol Louis, said, “I guess Errol Louis doesn't mind standing with Dov Hikind, and I don't think that's where most people want to stand.”
Hikind’s response: “If we authorize gay marriage in the state of New York, those who want to live and love incestuously will be five steps closer to achieving their goals as well.”
To Azi Paybarah:
Response to “Gay Marriage Legal Impact: Van Capelle v. Louis”
I have had the opportunity to speak with individuals from all walks of life. I have always accorded each person the respect and dignity he/she deserves; it does not matter what ethnicity, what color, what religion, or what preferences. This isn’t about dignity or respect; this is about legal precedent. If you say that gay marriage is kosher, why not respect the wishes of any two consenting adults who fall in love, wish to marry and start a family: brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and son, etc. Incest or other deviant behavior is becoming a legal reality for the future. <>As my colleague Assemblyman Brodsky said in his address on the issue of gay marriage: If it makes people happy, and it doesn’t hurt anyone else why should we oppose it? And in that same line of thinking, why should we refer to other such relationships, incestuous though they may be, as disgusting? And that is why, in fact, I am considering introducing legislation to decriminalize incest.
If the only bar we set for marriage is a loving relationship between two adults, then Allen and Patricia Muth, brother and sister, should not have been prosecuted in Wisconsin, when they fell in love and had several children together. Paul Lowe is appealing his conviction in Ohio for incest, for having a relationship with his 22-year-old stepdaughter.
If we authorize gay marriage in the state of New York, those who want to live and love incestuously will be five steps closer to achieving their goals, as well.
