Daniel O'Donnell
GET UPDATES FROM Daniel O'Donnell
 
Daniel O’Donnell was elected to represent the 69th District in the New York State Assembly in 2002. As the first openly gay man elected to the Assembly, he joined Deborah Glick, the first openly LGBT member of the New York State Legislature. He has been a pioneer of progressive policies supporting the LGBT community, not to mention fair and sensible legislation for all. He spearheaded the effort to legalize same-sex marriage beginning in 2004, when he and his partner became plaintiffs in the Marriage Equality case before the New York State Court of Appeals. He then shepherded the Marriage Equality Act to passage in the Assembly five times in four years, including its final successful passage in June 2011, when the bill was finally signed into law.

Blog Entries by Daniel O'Donnell

Teaching Our Children Not to Follow Romney's Example

(0) Comments | Posted May 13, 2012 | 2:44 AM

Mitt Romney says now that he had no idea the student he attacked in prep school was gay. This is beside the point. In 1965, as an 18-year-old stepping into adulthood, Mitt Romney learned that it was acceptable to target students who didn't conform to his own conventional...

Read Post

Marriage Equality Progress Must Continue

(27) Comments | Posted February 13, 2012 | 2:15 PM

Progress on marriage equality is sweeping across the country this year. As both the legislative sponsor of the Marriage Equality Act in New York State and a gay man, this news profoundly heartens me. I returned from my honeymoon this week to the news of Prop 8's defeat, but even...

Read Post

We Must Protect Human Rights in the U.S.

(8) Comments | Posted December 7, 2011 | 8:41 PM

President Obama's and Secretary Clinton's recent decision to use foreign aid to foster gay rights abroad should be applauded, and I strongly agree with Secretary Clinton that "gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights." I want to emphasize a point she made in her moving speech...

Read Post