State Sen. Marty Golden may have called gay marriage the “destruction of the sacrament of marriage” — but his family’s catering hall is more than happy to accommodate your LGBT wedding reception!
Golden (R-Bay Ridge) was Brooklyn’s only state senator to oppose the passage of the historic same-sex marriage legislation late last week.
To find out if the staff at the Bay Ridge Manor — which Golden owned before selling it to a relative in 2003 — shared the legislator’s beliefs, two of our male reporters stopped by the 76th Street catering hall on Wednesday, identifying themselves as same-sex partners looking for a place to celebrate their upcoming nuptials.
But instead of showing them the door, a manager didn’t bat an eye and immediately spread out a few pamphlets on the desk, outlining the various catering packages that ranged from $60 a head for a “hot smorgasbord” buffet to $95 a head for a cocktail reception and a full dinner with choices of filet mignon and pan-seared yellow fin tuna steak.
The manager was courteous and open to hosting the event at the manor — which features a ballroom with crystal chandeliers — and never commented on the reporters’ apparent sexual orientation.
Golden, however, isn’t as accepting.
The Catholic cop-turned-legislator — who hosted several Republican fundraisers at the Bay Ridge Manor, as well as a GOP rally for Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Bay Ridge) before his 2010 election — referred to same-sex marriage in biblical terms, calling the legal coupling of gays “a challenge to our faith” the day after the measure passed by a slim 33-29 vote in the Senate.
“My faith guided me, as it has throughout my political career, in deciding what is right and what is wrong, and as such, I couldn’t and didn’t vote to legalize same sex marriage,” he said.
The senator did not reply to e-mails requesting comment on this story by our midnight deadline, but an aide confirmed that the senator continues to hold events there.
“When we do, we pay to have them there like others who book affairs [and] events at the Bay Ridge Manor,” said spokesman John Quaglione.
Last Friday’s vote means New York will join Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa and Washington, D.C. on July 24 in legally recognizing gay marriage.
The vote in the senate was contentious, but many legislators who had voted against same-sex marriage in the past rallied for its passage this time around — including state Sen. Carl Kruger (D–Brighton Beach). Kruger, who voted against the bill in 2009, but was outed as a homosexual in a recent FBI probe, claimed that legalizing same-sex marriage was “the reaffirmation of what a family is,” as he cast his vote.
Golden voted as expected. In May, the senator had said his constituents “don’t give a rat’s ass” about gay marriage, prompting a protest outside his Fifth Avenue office.
But Golden isn’t the only Brooklyn legislator opposed to gay marriage. Before the Senate took up the bill, the measure passed the Assembly with an 80-63 vote — but without the help of Assemblymembers Nicole Malliotakis (R-Bay Ridge), Peter Abbate (D–Dyker Heights), Bill Colton (D-Bensonhurst) Inez Barron (D–Canarsie), Steven Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay) and Dov Hikind (D–Borough Park).
Bay Ridge Manor [476 76th St. at Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge, (718)748-8855].
— with Aaron Short
