MENY receives Community Equality Award

February 22, 2008
Hilton, New York

Marriage Equality New York (MENY) has accepted the "Community Equality Award" award at the HRC Greater New York Gala 2008. The New York Chapter of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gave MENY the award at the Hilton Hotel this evening. The award serves to honor an all volunteer, grassroots organization making a difference in the greater New York area.

Accepting the award on behalf of MENY was Deputy Executive Director Ron Zacchi. While acknowledging HRC’s work on marriage equality, Zacchi also stressed the reasons for MENY’s success. In particular, he highlighted the crucial role inclusiveness has played. He stated, "Meny's mission statement emphasizes inclusion, as inclusion can only strengthen our movement."

In October 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which addressed discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity and expression. As one of the only LGBT organization not to oppose the watered down bill, HRC has faced harsh criticism.

“As the events around ENDA show, there is still much work to be done,” said MENY Executive Director Cathy Marino-Thomas. “Unfortunately, HRC’s stance on ENDA is clearly not in-line with our inclusive mission and disappoints those who believe we cannot leave anyone behind.”

Marino-Thomas continued, “MENY does not look at this as accepting an award but as a chance to lead by example. MENY has only strengthened its commitment to inclusiveness. This commitment unequivocally includes transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.”

Marriage Equality New York has ALWAYS been trans-inclusive and has always stood on the right side of this civil rights fight. When we were asked to sign a statement of support for trans-inclusion in SONDA, we were one of the first organizations to support and write a statement, urging our membership to ask their state representatives to support the inclusive legislation In 2007, MENY moved to clarify and strengthen its mission. All written materials were revised to reflect the myriad backgrounds and perspectives of those in the movement for gender-neutral marriage. Marino-Thomas noted, “Our transgender colleagues help ensure MENY remains true to its commitment to inclusiveness.”