Queens Democratic Assemblyman Rory Lancman, a candidate against GOP Congressman Bob Turner, recently gave an interview to Jake Stern Radio Show of Yeshiva World News, and had a rather cute answer when pressed on his vote for gay marriage.
“Do you morally feel there is nothing wrong with same-gender marriage?” the interviewer asked. “If your son came to you, and said ‘Dad, I want to have this ‘same-gender marriage.’ Would you have no objection, would he have your blessing?”
“First I’d have to ask if the guy’s Jewish,” Mr. Lancman joked, pausing before saying he’d like any child to have the same rights and opportunities as other children.
Mr. Turner won in an upset special election last summer partially due to opposition to the Democratic candidate, Assemblyman David Weprin and his vote in favor of same-sex marriage in New York. However, Mr. Lancman didn’t feel it would be a significant issue in his own campaign for the seat.
“It came to the head in the Weprin race, I think, mostly because of the manner in which David articulated his support for the marriage issue, as opposed to simply whether one voted yes or no. At least that’s my understanding of the concerns that were raised,” he said.
This is perhaps a reference to the backlash against Mr. Weprin for citing his Jewish faith when he cast his vote. The socially conservative Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind additionally said he could never support Mr. Weprin because he felt Mr. Weprin was trying to blunt his own passionate speech on the issue.
Mr. Lancman said he’s never had a lot of difficulty in articulating the issue with those who disagree.
“For me, it’s just a very straightforward civil rights question. Any right or right the government is going to confer on anyone, it needs to confer that right on everyone,” he explained. “When I’ve talked about that with people who have a different point of view, they’ve understood my perspective.”
Update: Jews for Morality’s Joseph Hayon, who’s helping organize Rabbinical opposition to Councilman Lew Fidler’s State Senate campaign, emails a disagreement with Mr. Lancman’s assessment:
“It’s official. The Queens Democratic Party is clueless. Lancman is going to get ‘Weprined‘ right after Fidler.”
