To the Editor:

It seems that every step towards increasing rights and freedoms has been met with resistance and fear-mongering throughout history.  In 1775, Loyalist Miles Cooper’s poem described Patriots as committing “treason in mask of liberty.” In the 1880s, women were warned by doctors “their uteruses would shrink” when they sought an education. 

 Giving women the right to vote would “destroy the family.”  Letting Blacks into the neighborhood would “drive down real estate values.” In the 1970s, giving women equal rights would mean men and women being “forced to use the same public bathrooms.” Legalizing gay marriage would “destroy the basic structure of society.”

None of that was true or happened, but today the climate is no different. Extending freedoms to all New Yorkers is threatening to some and fear-mongering results.

 Proposal 1 “Amendment to Protect Against Unequal Treatment” on the back of our November ballots simply seeks to extend constitutional equal rights from the current race and religion to include all of us regardless of “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, as well as reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” exact ballot language.  

Notice there’s nothing about the elimination of parental rights to their children’s medical care? Specifically, no regular medical care, gender-affirming or otherwise, can happen now without parental permission nor does the passage of Prop. 1 change that.  

Notice there’s nothing about supporting any kind of illegal activity? It is entirely possible to hold someone legally accountable and be nondiscriminatory simultaneously. Specifically, protecting against discrimination based on a person’s national origin, such as Melania Trump’s, does not preclude addressing illegal border crossings.

What the amendment does do is extend constitutional equal rights to virtually every single New Yorker, including the writers and the reader here.  

Abortion is often seen as “safe” in New York, yet there have been 53 anti-reproductive rights bills presented (but not passed) in New York in the last decade. NY law currently legalizes abortion, and all it takes is one bill passing into law for abortion to become illegal here.  Protecting reproductive rights in our NY Constitution prevents that from happening; overturning a law is much easier than overturning a constitutional amendment.

You are encouraged to read the exact text of the bill to see through the fear-mongering. A yes vote for Prop 1 protects groups often marginalized, discriminated against, and forgotten—including the aged and disabled.  

Mike Zagrobelny, Chair of St. Lawrence County Democrats
Ginger Storey-Welch, Vice-Chair of St. Lawrence County Democrats