NY gay marriage opponents call Gov. Paterson "spiritually blind"

From part of a NY Times story:

Gov. David A. Paterson (pictured at the rally) urged the State Senate on May 17 to take swift action on legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry, signaling that he intends to increase pressure on lawmakers as the end of the 2009 legislative session approaches.

With six weeks left before the State Legislature adjourns for the year, gay rights advocates remain short of the support they need in the Senate, and there is an increasing sense among those who support same-sex marriage that time is running out.

Mr. Paterson, who appeared along with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other state and city leaders at a rally of gay rights activists near Rockefeller Center on May 17, did not initially plan to attend. His last-minute appearance, which came just a few hours after thousands of same-sex marriage opponents held a much larger demonstration outside the governor’s Midtown Manhattan office, underscored the high stakes at issue in the Senate vote. . . .

The New York Hispanic Clergy Organization, led by Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister, organized the event. In a speech delivered in Spanish, Mr. Díaz warned the governor that there would be political consequences for supporting same-sex marriage.

“We’re here to say to the governor: Mr. Governor, look at the people that are here, these are the people who say we don’t believe in marriage between a man and a man and a woman and a woman,” Mr. Díaz said.

During the event, which took on the air of an evangelical church service at times, a number of speakers offered prayers as audience members stood with their arms raised and their palms facing outward.

One speaker, the Rev. Miguel A. Rivera, offered a prayer for the governor, who he said was not only “physically blind, but spiritually blind.”