Cuomo, who pushed aggressively for the Legislature to approve gay marriage last year, said Rabbi Noson Leiter’s statements were “as offensive as they are ignorant.”
Leiter’s comments — made last week and detailed in Monday’s editions of the Daily News — were delivered in support of Hudson Valley state Senate candidate Neil DiCarlo, a gay marriage opponent who is running on the Conservative Party line in a three-way race.
“This kind of hateful rhetoric has no place in our public discourse, and is particularly distasteful in times of tragedy,” Cuomo declared in a blistering statement Monday.
“Our state is proud to offer equal rights to all our citizens, and we will never tolerate the use of a tragedy like Hurricane Sandy to promote a divisive and bigoted agenda,” he added.
The Legislature’s passage of the Cuomo-backed gay marriage bill was made possible by four votes from GOP state senators, one of them being DiCarlo’s Republican opponent, Sen. Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie).
Cuomo has crossed party lines to endorse Saland, who beat DiCarlo in a GOP primary earlier this year.
In calling for Leiter to apologize, Cuomo noted the storm claimed the lives of 40 New Yorkers.
The outrage over the Rockland County rabbi’s comments was bipartisan.
Former Republican Gov. George Pataki, another Saland supporter, told The News for a story in Monday’s editions that DiCarlo should repudiate the rabbi’s claim. DiCarlo refused to do so, instead accusing Pataki of playing politics.
Senate GOPers fear DiCarlo’s presence in the race will pull votes away from Saland, possibly handing victory to Democrat Terry Gipson.
Leiter, head of Torah Jews for Decency, could not be reached for comment.
The rabbi made the incendiary remarks during an Oct. 30 radio interview. He called the destructive storm “divine justice,” particularly for lower Manhattan, which he branded “one of the national centers for homosexuality.”
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