As families across the country celebrate Father’s Day, dads in New York are standing with New Yorkers United for Marriage to ramp up the pressure on the state Senate to pass the marriage bill.

 

Dads like Gerald Hathaway, father of actress Anne Hathaway, says that he just wants all three of his children, including his gay son, to be treated fairly under the law:

 

"I want what every Father wants – for society to treat all three of my children with the dignity and respect that they deserve. It’s time for the state legislature to ensure equality under the law for all New Yorkers, and that means allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.”

 

Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue says that extending marriage to gay and lesbian couples is an issue of basic equality and fairness, and on Father’s Day, he wants his gay son to share in the commitment and responsibilities that only marriage provides:

 

“I have an incredible son for whom I want every happiness in the world, including the joy of marriage – and all of the responsibilities, privileges and protections that come with it.”

 

But it’s not just famous dads who believe that all New Yorkers should have the freedom to marry. Everyday New Yorkers like Ed Galloway of Pound Ridge, NY says that while he and his partner Gordon do all they can to provide for their children, the one thing they cannot give them is the respect and protections that marriage would afford their family. Ed wants the Senate to pass the marriage bill so that their children will know that their family is the same as other families and deserves to be valued and protected.

 

Tomorrow, on the last day of the legislative session, the state Senate has a chance to end the exclusion of gay and lesbian New Yorkers from marriage so that dads like Gerald, Paul, and Ed can rest assured that none of their children can be denied the dignity of marrying the person they love.

 

Join these extraordinary fathers and urge your state Senator to support marriage for all loving and committed couples in the Empire State. Your Senator needs to hear from you now! Click here to take action.