If you got here from Twitter, you've taken the first step toward showing Central New York that you support LGBT equality! Now you're just seconds away from sending a letter to your local newspaper. Please click the link below and raise your loving voice above the chorus of hate, anger and misunderstanding.
For more on this project, see below.
Last week
Senator David Valesky voted "Yes" on
S4401, the gay marriage bill. As the Syracuse Post Standard
noted, he was the
only Central New York senator to do so.
I think this deserves a big "Thank you!". That's why I wrote this letter, which was published in the
Post Standard and will supposedly be printed tomorrow in the
Madison County Courier.
To the Editor:
Wednesday the New York Senate voted 38-24 against S4401, “An act to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to the ability to marry.” I’m disappointed, but not surprised. Neither am I particularly discouraged.
A New York Times article said that “The vote means that the bill, pushed by Gov. David A. Paterson, is effectively dead for the year and destroys the optimism of gay rights advocates.”
The Times is dead wrong. My optimism is not destroyed. Far from it. I’m delighted with those numbers: 38-24. That means that 39 percent of New York state senators voted for marriage equality. Just 10 or 20 years ago, that would have been unimaginable. That is breathtaking progress.
Of the six senators from Central New York, only Sen. David J. Valesky voted “yes” on S4401. Sen. Valesky: Thank you. You bolster my faith that I will live to see gay people attain the same legal rights that I take for granted.
Hugh Yeman
Larchmont
But I think it deserves a bigger "Thank you!" than that. As a matter of fact, I think it deserves a "Thank you!" from every LGBT individual and ally in the Central New York area.
I've been meaning to start a nationwide grassroots letter-to-the-editor campaign ever since I had the thrilling experience of seeing my
letter about the Link Trail published in the
Oneida Daily Dispatch. This represents the perfect first step.
It will take a
long time to develop a database of all U.S. newspapers along with their editorial contact information and/or their online letter submission URL. But, by limiting myself to Senator Valesky's district, I was able to put together just such a
list in a fairly short amount of time.
So now that I have my list, all I need to do is start Twittering, like so.
#LGBT and allies near Lenox, NY! Would you please write a letter to Madison Eagle? [link to this page]
Let's see what happens.
LIST OF CENTRAL NEW YORK NEWSPAPERS BY TOWN
Baldwinsville | Baldwinsville Messenger | Editor: Erin Smith Email: messenger@cnylink.com |
Bridgeport | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Camillus | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Canastota | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Cazenovia | Cazenovia Pilot | http://www.cazpilot.com/wordpress/index.php/forum/ |
Cazenovia | Cazenovia Republican | Editor: Doug Campbell Email: republican@cnylink.com |
Chittenango | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Cicero | Star Review | Editor: Farah Jadran Pike Email: fpike@cnylink.com |
Clay | Star Review | Editor: Farah Jadran Pike Email: fpike@cnylink.com |
DeWitt | DeWitt Times | Editor: Tami Zimmerman Email: bulletin@cnylink.com |
DeWitt | Eagle Bulletin | Editor: Tami Zimmerman Email: bulletin@cnylink.com |
Eaton | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Elbridge | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Erieville | Cazenovia Republican | Editor: Doug Campbell Email: republican@cnylink.com |
Fairmount | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Fayetteville | Eagle Bulletin | Editor: Tami Zimmerman Email: bulletin@cnylink.com |
Fenner | Cazenovia Republican | Editor: Doug Campbell Email: republican@cnylink.com |
Hamilton | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Hamilton | Maroon News | http://www.maroon-news.com/options/send-a-letter-to-the-editor |
Hamilton | Mid York Weekly | http://media.uticaod.com/editorial/tools/share/submit_letter.php |
Jack's Reef | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Jordan | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Kirkville | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Lakeport | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Lenox | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Lincoln | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Liverpool | Star Review | Editor: Farah Jadran Pike Email: fpike@cnylink.com |
Lysander | Baldwinsville Messenger | Editor: Erin Smith Email: messenger@cnylink.com |
Madison | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Manlius | Eagle Bulletin | Editor: Tami Zimmerman Email: bulletin@cnylink.com |
Marcellus | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Memphis | Eagle Observer | Editor: Ami Olson Email: aolson@cnylink.com |
Minoa | Eagle Bulletin | Editor: Tami Zimmerman Email: bulletin@cnylink.com |
Morrisville | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Nelson | Cazenovia Republican | Editor: Doug Campbell Email: republican@cnylink.com |
New Woodstock | Cazenovia Republican | Editor: Doug Campbell Email: republican@cnylink.com |
North Syracuse | Star Review | Editor: Farah Jadran Pike Email: fpike@cnylink.com |
Oneida | Madison County Courier | Martha Conway, Editor/Reporter 315-813-0124 or martha@m3ppublications.com |
Oneida | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Oneida | Oneida Daily Dispatch | 315-363-5100 Kurt Wanfried, Managing Editor, ext. 137 kwanfried@oneidadispatch.com |
Perryville | Madison Eagle | Editor: Beth Pantzer Email: bpantzer@cnylink.com |
Rome | Rome Observer | 130 Broad St. Oneida, New York 13421 Phone: 315-363-5100 Fax: (315) 363-9832 editorial@mohawkvalleymedia.com |
Rome | Rome Sentinel | editor@rny.com 337-4000 |
Salina | Star Review | Editor: Farah Jadran Pike Email: fpike@cnylink.com |
Skaneateles | Skaneateles Press | Editor: Miranda Pennock Email: mpennock@cnylink.com |
Syracuse | Catholic Sun | http://www.thecatholicsun.com/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=71 420 Montgomery St. New York 13201
315-422-8153 (phone) 315-422-7549 (fax)
|
Syracuse | Central New York Business Journal | Adam Rombel Editor-in-Chief Phone: (315) 579-3902 E-mail: arombel@cnybj.com |
Syracuse | Daily Orange | Stephanie Musat, Editor in Chief Meredith Galante, Managing Editor (315) 443-9798 editor@dailyorange.com |
Syracuse | Family Times | 1415 West Genesee Street Syracuse, NY 13204 315.472.4669 (F) 315.422.1721 |
Syracuse | Post Standard | http://www.syracuse.com/contactus/ |
Syracuse | Syracuse City Eagle | Editor: Ellen Leahy Email: city@cnylink.com
|
Syracuse | Syracuse New Times | http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/index.php?option=com_contact&Itemid=3 |
Syracuse | Syracuse Parent | http://www.syracuseparent.net/contact/ Syracuse Parent 5910 Firestone Drive, Syracuse, NY 13206 email: editor@syracuseparent.net
Editor Brittney F. Jerred 315.434.8889 ext 322 |
Syracuse | Urban CNY | http://urbancny.com/contact/index.php Kenneth Jackson, Editor and Publisher PHONE: (315) 422-7778 FAX: (315) 434-8883 EMAIL: kjackson@urbancny.com |
Syracuse | WSTM | http://www.cnycentral.com/news/News_bloggers.aspx Matt Mulcahy Anchor mmulcahy@CNYcentral.com
|
Syracuse | WSYR | http://www.9wsyr.com/content/contact/default.aspx |
Syracuse | WSYR | http://www.570wsyr.com/pages/contact.html?feed=120907&article=366507 |
Syracuse | WTVH | http://www.cnycentral.com/about/contact_us_form.aspx |
Van Buren | Baldwinsville Messenger | Editor: Erin Smith Email: messenger@cnylink.com |
I located a database that might be helpful for your readers - http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html offers a listing of U.S. newspapers sorted by state, and then sorted within each state by city of publication.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have a "generational view" of LGBTQ rights. I am greatly heartened by the progress we've made, and have every confidence that 20 years from now, people will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about gay marriage.
Thank you for posting this. Keep up the good fight!
Thanks! I've been working from http://www.abyznewslinks.com. It seems to be quite comprehensive. Finding the links to the newspapers is relatively easy. It's finding the editorial submission process that takes serious time. I spent hours just making the list linked at the top of this page. But it's worth it if it saves my readers the effort of doing that search themselves. If I can help a bunch of people get those letters, calls and e-mails out, it will be time well spent.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm completely new to this so feel free to make suggestions. Do you think the "newspaper list" link at the top is obvious enough? I don't like having the list as a google doc; it's just a temporary measure until I suss the HTML generation code for producing nice, simple, clean, linked lists. I'm hopeful that I can then just embed that list right on this page.
ReplyDeleteWoot! Nicely done. Wow, I'm so "outta" the tech world anymore, though I used to work in Amazon's Site Development area, providing support to their Director. Yeah, THAT's been awhile (1998). 100-hr weeks just were NOT compatible with being even a semi-responsible mom, and this was even BEFORE I kicked my then-husband to the curb (for reasons that had nothing to do with my being a lesbian) and came out of the closet.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't like the way the table spills off the right of the available screen real-estate, but what can I do? There's no way to make blogger use that white space to the left, is there?
ReplyDeleteWow, support to the Director of Amazon! Impressive. I've *never* had that much of a work ethic. 40 hours/wk. is fine for me.