NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed into law a bill that bans the sale or display of “symbols of hate” — including Confederate flags and swastikas — on state property.
The newly-approved legislation “prohibit[s] the sale or display of hate symbols in public buildings unless serving an educational or historical purpose,” the New York State Senate’s website says.
The law also applies to fair grounds in the state that receive federal, local or state funding, including the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.
In a statement throwing his support behind the measure, Cuomo said the country “faces a pervasive, growing attitude of intolerance and hate — what I have referred to in the body politic as an American cancer.”
“By limiting the display and sale of the Confederate flag, Nazi swastika and other symbols of hatred from being displayed or sold on state property, including the state fairgrounds, this will help safeguard New Yorkers from the fear-installing effects of these abhorrent symbols,” he wrote.
The new law may, however, need to be altered to avoid infringing upon New Yorkers’ freedom of speech, the governor noted.
“While I fully support the spirit of this legislation, certain technical changes are necessary to balance the state’s interests in preventing the use of hate symbols on state land with free speech protections embodied in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” he said.
A spokesman for Cuomo told the New York Post the bill may be amended after the governor’s legal team and the state Legislature review it.
In her own statement, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who sponsored the bill, said the law “allows New York state to lead by example, and discourage the perpetuation of symbols that do not represent our values of justice and inclusion.”
“By limiting hateful symbols from being glorified on State property, New York will denounce images that represent violence while still acknowledging our nation’s shameful history of oppression,” she added. “Today we say no to hate.”