Anti-Skelos demonstrators are met with opposition

Members of the Rockville Centre Tea Party held a protest outside State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’s district office on Front Street on July 15, prompting a spontaneous counterprotest by some patrons of the Vibe Lounge next door, during which the two groups of demonstrators traded verbal barbs.

The Tea Party protesters voiced opposition to Skelos’s decision to allow the same-sex marriage bill to be put to a vote on the floor of the Senate on June 24. They carried signs calling for voters to “dump” Skelos, and decried marriage between anyone other than a man and a woman.

Although Skelos voted against the bill, the Tea Party members said that his actions were not representative of the interests of his constituents.

In response, the Vibe patrons — teenagers attending an event for those under the drinking age — waved hastily created signs in support of gay marriage. “Don’t hate because you’re straight” and “Jesus had two dads” were among them.

There has been at least one other demonstration against Skelos in recent weeks. Parishioners leaving St. Agnes Cathedral after Mass on July 10 were met by six members of a group calling itself the Knights for Life, who distributed fliers calling on the Conservative Party to end its endorsement of Skelos and other local senators who allowed the vote on same-sex marriage. They called on Skelos to resign and threatened to hold his action to allow the vote against him in the November 2012 election.

Skelos’s office acknowledged his constituents’ right to publicly express their beliefs. “People have a right to demonstrate as long as they do so peacefully,” said spokesman Scott Reif. “They have a right to their opinion, and Senator Skelos has made clear on this issue that while he is personally opposed … he was in favor of putting the bill on the floor. Members were free to vote their conscience, and most Republicans voted no.”

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