By SARI ZEIDLER
The group of chanting, sign-wielding students was organized by Calhoun High School seniors Jeffrey Sachs and Patrick Mazella in only three days after Sachs said he saw a news segment on TV informing him of Fuschillo's plans to vote no on the bill.
"It's just the last frontier in civil rights," said Sachs, who will be old enough to vote in July. "This is a generational issue. This is the issue that our generation has to fight for."
Mazzella said, "Sen. Fuschillo represents us as his constituents, and it would be wrong for him not to know how his constituency feels about this issue. It's wrong to deny equality to a group of people based on orientation."
Though both boys said they had never taken part in a protest before, they spoke to school officials, sent out flyers, and organized a Facebook events page to rally students and supporters in front of Fuschillo's district office in Massapequa. While many who showed up were too young to vote, they said they felt it was important to take part in the early exercise in civics.
Hayley Lubow, the 17-year-old student president of Calhoun's Gay-Straight Alliance, said, "We're here to protest and show him the voters he will be missing out on. No, I can't vote, but in a few years I can, and we will always remember if you voted yes or no because it's a really big deal right now. It will always be a really big deal to us."
Fuschillo, who was in legislative session in Albany during the protest, said, "First of all, I think it's fabulous that the kids are involving themselves in the legal process." But he defended his stance, saying, "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, but the rights can all be attained by civil unions," which he supports.
Assembly members David McDonough, a Republican from Merrick, Tom McKevitt, a Republican from East Meadow, and Earlene Hooper, a Democrat from Hempstead, all of whom represent constituencies that fall within Fuschillo's Senate district, voted against the bill as well.
Comments about this story? SZeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
