An op-ed from Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz and Michael Long, Chairman of the Conservative Party of New York State:

Politics is a team sport. The decision of senate Republicans to take up this bill, and thus help enable Governor Cuomo’s goal to pass gay marriage, will affect the way voters across the state view the Republican party — especially if Republican state senators told voters one thing during the campaign, and now propose to change their votes at Governor Cuomo’s behest.

The National Organization for Marriage released a poll of registered New Yorkers, conducted this past weekend. Fifty-seven percent of New York voters agree that “marriage should only be between a man and a woman” versus 32 percent who disagree. Meanwhile, the new NOM poll shows that only about one in four New York voters (26 percent) prefer legislators in Albany to decide this issue, while 59 percent say the issue of marriage should be decided by the voters in New York.

... If gay marriage advocates honestly believe they have a super-majority of New Yorkers in their corner, they should join with us to agree to permit a referendum to decide this issue. If they do not, their claims to represent the majority will ring rather hollow. This gay-marriage bill is not in the best interests of New York, it is not the choice of New Yorkers, and it is decidedly against the interests of the Republican party.

...The last time the Republican party caved on a deeply important social issue — abortion — it destroyed the party’s prospects for years. And for what? To help Andrew Cuomo run for president? As Brian Brown, president of NOM, quipped:

Selling your principles in order to get elected is wrong, selling your principles to help get the other guy get elected is just plain dumb.

Memo to GOP leadership: Kill this bill, and let the people of New York decide the future of marriage.