Good Friday as Public Holiday Passes State Senate

Brooklyn, N.Y – In this week’s legislative session in Albany, the New York State Senate passed Senator Kevin Parker’s popular bill calling for  Good Friday to be designated a public holiday.

"Making Good Friday a state holiday is not just good, but the right thing to do,” Senator Parker said, adding, “It’s a day celebrated by millions of families across our great state and currently many important institutions like Wall Street,  the New York Stock Exchange, and Public Schools are closed for its observance.”

If signed into law, New York will join 12 other States including its tri-state neighbors Connecticut and New Jersey in designating Good Friday as a public holiday. Moreover, it’s a move that demonstrates that New York State recognizes and celebrates the religious diversity of all its citizens.

 This proposed bill offers New York the opportunity to count itself among the diversified states that joined in their common interest to demonstrate respect for their Christian citizens by ensuring that Good Friday is recognized explicitly as the holy day of the Judaic and Islamic communities.

                                                  About State Senator Kevin Parker

Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse Brooklyn district comprising sections of Flatbush, East Flatbush, Kensington, Ditmas Park Midwood, Flatlands, Canarsie, Georgetown, Old Mill Basin, Mill Basin, Marine Park, and Bergen Beach. A lifelong Brooklyn resident, Senator Parker is the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee and is a member of the following standing committees: Rules, Banks, Internet and Technology, and Budget and Revenue.

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