Dear Hiram, Thanks for the Lump of Coal

Via Towleroad, State Senator Hiram Monserrate had some unexpected guests at his Christmas party when activists from The Power showed up to protest the senator's vote against the marriage equality bill that was defeated in the Senate earlier this month. The activists were removed from the event over taunts of "wife-beater."

Monserrate was one of eight Democrats who voted against the bill, after he had indicated in an Empire State Pride Agenda survey that he supported it. Monserrate was acquitted in October of felony assault for allegedly slashing his girlfriend's face with a broken glass; he was convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge for dragging his girlfriend from their apartment.