A diverse coalition of faith leaders, advocates and state lawmakers rallied at the state Capitol on Wednesday around a provision in the state budget that would ensure safe access to houses of worship.
State Assemblyman Micah Lasher, a Democrat from Manhattan, introduced the bill in response to skyrocketing rates of antisemitic hate in New York City. It provides for a 25-foot buffer zone around all houses of worship.
“It was most immediately in response to a pretty horrible incident outside of Park East Synagogue where people entering the synagogue were subjected to really violent vitriol,” Lasher told Capital Tonight.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitism has increased by 400% since Oct. 7, 2023, the date when Hamas attacked Israel.
The buffer zone legislation has been panned by some civil rights groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), which argues that the bill is “an assault on public expression.”
“These proposals strike at the heart of our right to express our views – no matter how controversial – in public. Demonstrators have a right to engage in political protest on public sidewalks. It’s fundamental to our democracy and well-protected by our Constitution,” the NYCLU said.
Lasher disagrees, calling the proposal “a reasonable, modest means to protect houses of worship.”
Because it involves two competing constitutional rights, the right to free speech and the right to worship, Lasher claims he looked closely at Supreme Court precedent prior to introducing the bill.
“There is long-standing jurisprudence that says government can pass reasonable restrictions as long as they are narrowly tailored on the time, place and matter of protest,” he explained.
In the New York state Senate’s one-house budget proposal, the buffer zone legislation was replaced with a proposal to make it a misdemeanor to obstruct the entrance to a house of worship.
Lasher said that’s not enough considering what transpired at Park East.
“Our bill merely builds on an existing law that aims to protect people who are entering houses of worship and reproductive healthcare facilities; that is an existing law. We add no new penalties, no new crimes,” he explained.
The Assembly’s one-house budget did not address the issue.
Lasher is running in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination for the 12th Congressional District seat in Manhattan to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler.