CRISIS OF FAITH
State pols want to eliminate religious exemptions to vaccination
SICK OF IT: Anti-vaxxers led a counter-protest outside City Council offi ces Tuesday, where state pols promoted
a bill to revoke religious exemptions to vaccinations. Photo by Colin Mixson
INSIDE
Tragic touch
Classic stage: Smith Street Stage will celebrate its 10th
year in Carroll Park with the tragic tale of romance and
violence, “Romeo & Juliet.” Chris Montgomery
‘Romeo and Juliet’ comes to Carroll Park
By Aidan Graham See the star-crossed lovers under the
A new production of “Romeo and
Juliet” will bring Shakespeare’s tale of
romance and violent delights to Carroll
Park for three weeks, starting on June 12.
The outdoor show from Smith Street Stage
will take the story of an epic struggle
between the great houses of 16th-century
Italy and draw connections to current
events, said the show’s director.
“It’s set in a Verona that is much like
our government today. If you look at
the recent government shut down, for
example, it didn’t take long for people to be
in dire straits. People were worried about
buying food and rationing medicine, but
the politicians who created the shutdown
are going to be fine,” said Shaun Bennet
Fauntleroy. “That’s the Verona we have
now. People in the story are not happy with
the Capulets and Montagues, because their
feud was wrecking the economy.”
Fauntleroy, a longtime member of the
Smith Street company, said she was drawn
to the story because of its strong female
protagonist.
“It’s one of the few plays by Shakespeare
that is led by a woman. It really is Juliet’s
show. She’s such a wonderful character.
She says what’s on her mind, and she’s
very straightforward,” said Fauntleroy. “In
some small ways, we’re trying to highlight
Juliet’s beautiful uniqueness, and how her
love with Romeo is so different.”
The director cast actress Katie
Willmorth in that leading role, because
of her temperamental similarity to the
character.
“Katie is very similar to Juliet in that
she’s both very cerebral and warm,” she
said. “And, she really digs into the language
of the character. There are people
who like to take apart clocks to see how
they work, and Katie is like that with
language. If you combine that with her
warmth and kindness, she makes for the
perfect Juliet.”
Willmorth will star across from Noah
Anderson as Romeo in the 15-person,
modern-dress production. This is the 10th
anniversary of Smith Street Stage’s seasonal
productions in Carroll Park, which
have been a midsummer night’s dream for
the company, said Fauntleroy.
“The park is a great venue, and it’s
great because the original Shakespeare
plays were performed in the open air,” she
said. “We feel like the shows should be
accessible to everyone. So, to be able to do
these shows for free, and be able to pay the
actors, is really like a dream.”
“Romeo and Juliet” in Carroll Park
(Carroll Street between Smith and Court
streets in Carroll Gardens, www.smithstreetstage.
org). June 12–30; Thu–Sun at
7:30 p.m. Free.
Your entertainment
guide Page 33
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BY COLIN MIXSON
A cadre of New York lawmakers
want to eliminate religious
exemptions to vaccinations
before a state-wide measles
outbreak subsides, with one
upstate senator claiming the
political will to ax the exemption
hinges on fears stoked
by the epidemic that’s overwhelmingly
affected unvaccinated
Brooklynites.
“The fear is we lose this
opportunity,” said Sen. David
Carlucci, who represents Rockland
County, which is combating
its own measles outbreak.
“As we lose the outbreak right
now, there’s a sense of security
that’s just not real. We’ve seen
how vulnerable we are, and we
need to say New Yorkers are
at risk, we need to take action,
and we can’t wait for session to
be over, because then it will be
too late.”
Carlucci joined Manhattan
senate colleague Brad Hoylman
and Bronx Assemblyman
Jeff Dinowitz at a press conference
near City Hall on May 28,
where they hoped to drum up
support for Senate bill S2994
and its Assembly counterpart
A2371 before the current legislative
season ends on June 19.
The lawmakers are looking
to follow in the footsteps of
California legislators — whose
repeal of the Golden State’s religious
exemption lead to statewide
increases in immunization
— as the measles virus
continues to sweep through
New York, where it has infected
843 people since October.
Of those, 535 cases were
discovered in Brooklyn, where
the disease has spread rapidly
through Orthodox Jewish
communities in Borough Park
and Williamsburg, in addition
to infecting 12 non-Jewish residents
of Sunset Park.
The state’s religious exemption
allows unvaccinated children
to attend public schools,
where students would otherwise
require a more stringent
medical exemption to enroll
without inoculations.
At the press conference, a
group of cancer survivors —
all students — suffering severely
compromised immune
systems joined the politicians,
who spoke out about the extraordinary
care they must
take to avoid disease and infection,
saying that sharing
a classroom with an unvaccinated
classmate could lead to
the end of their lives.
“We’re just trying to live,”
said Teela Wyman, a 26-yearold
law student who survived
stage four lymphoma cancer,
and required lung surgery
three times last year due to infections,
including one caused
by the fl u. “We’re just trying to
be normal people. These diseases
are preventable.”
Proponents of the exemption
claim it’s a protection
guaranteed by the First
Amendment, while also arguing
that the vast majority
of non-vaccinated New Yorkers
do not have a religious exemption,
and that repealing it
would have little practical effect
on the spread of disease.
“It’s outrageous to try and
take our religious exemptions
away, when we make up less
than half of one percent of the
unvaccinated population,”
said Queens resident Adreana
Rodriguez, who joined a small
group of anti-vaxxers outside
the City Council’s Broadway
offi ce building to protest Hoylman
and his colleagues.
Mayor de Blasio also disagreed
that religion contributes
signifi cantly to immunization,
and at a press conference
earlier this month claimed the
problem lies in anti-vaccination
rhetoric, which eliminating
the exemption would not
affect, according to a Politico
report .
“Just listen to my logic
pattern here,” de Blasio said.
“Somehow ending the religious
exemptions doesn’t address
what happened here
where the anti-vaxxers convinced
people not to get vaccinations.
That’s the root of the
problem.”
Hoylman, however, argued
that unscrupulous anti-vaxxers
are taking advantage of
the religious exemption to enroll
their unvaccinated kids in
school, despite their objections
being rooted in junk science —
not faith.
“The religious exemption is
a loophole,” said the Manhattan
lawmaker. “It is masking
someone’s conspiracy against
vaccinations, and it needs to
be closed.”
Ironically enough, a proponent
of the religious exemption
protesting outside Hoylman’s
press conference Tuesday said
it must not be repealed precisely
because it’s a loophole
for anti-vaxxers, claiming it’s
the only recourse that parents
— who attribute developmental
disorders, including
autism, in their children to recent
vaccinations — have after
they’re denied the medical exemption
by doctors.
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