Angered by the defeat last year of a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry, a group of well-financed gay rights advocates has started a political action committee to take aim at state senators who have opposed same-sex marriage.
According to The New York Times, the political action committee, Fight Back New York, is prepared to raise and spend in the high six figures range in the New York state senate races this year.
Financing and organization will come, in part, from some of the most politically sophisticated and financially powerful gay rights advocates in the country.
Tim Gill, a philanthropist and former software developer who has backed many gay rights initiatives nationwide, is a major player, along with some of his top associates and donors to his causes.
“Politicians who deny gays and lesbians basic equality should be thrown out of office, starting with convicted criminal Hiram Monserrate,” said Bill Smith, an adviser to the committee and deputy executive director of the Gill Action Fund, Mr. Gill’s political organization, which is based in Denver.
The group’s first target is Hiram Monserrate, the Queens Democrat who has filed as a candidate in a special election to reclaim the seat he lost after the State Senate expelled him earlier this month.
After stating that he would support and vote for the marriage equality bill, Monserrate voted “no” with no explanation on December 2, according to Fight Back NY.
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Monserrate was convicted of assaulting his female companion in a confrontation that left her requiring more than 20 stitches.