Twitter on NY

@daveweigel RT @mattyglesias: RT @attackerman: New tourism slogan: I HEART NEW YORK (NO HOMO) Read More...

Georgia elects openly gay and lesbian candidates

Georgia just made news regarding the election of an African American lesbian and gay Asian man yesterday:

Voters there have elected the first openly lesbian African-American state legislator in the United States, and Atlanta voters elected the first gay man and first Asian-American to the city council.

Simone Bell, a Victory Fund-endorsed candidate, won a runoff election to represent Georgia State House District 58. She becomes the second openly LGBT member of the Georgia State House, joining Rep. Karla Drenner. Both are from the Atlanta area.

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Dan Savage on Obama's gay record in his first year

Brutal, brilliant, and accurate. The video is, we think, about two months old. The thing is, nothing much has changed. Yes, Obama lifted the HIV travel ban. It didn't take any work to do, but it's good that he did it. He also signed the hate crimes bill - again, with no effort on his part whatsoever, since it passed in the last congress and even broke a GOP filibuster attempt.

I'm not knocking Obama for doing these two things, it's great that he did, but he didn't have to expend any political capital whatsoever to do either of them. In politics, using political capital is like spending money. So basically, what President Obama is doing is giving us Christmas gifts he got for free. It doesn't mean they're not valuable gifts, nor does it mean we don't appreciate the gifts. But we also don't expect the free-gifter to get any major kudos for how hard it was to basically re-gift us something he got for free.

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Angry reaction to the vote against marriage in New York today: "A contagious lack of backbone"

Not a good day in New York. First, fully one-fourth of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted against marriage equality. The offenders are: Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens), Darrel Aubertine (D- Cape Vincent), Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx), Shirley Huntley (D-Queens), Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens), George Onorato (D-Queens) and William Stachowski (D-Buffalo). A quarter might sound okay, but as you'll see below, the Democrats in New York owe control of the State Senate to gay support last fall.

I listened to the debate today. Ruben Diaz was the worst. He gave an outrageous floor speech. Then, as he was casting his vote, Diaz noted that he was on the same side as President Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton. Senator Tom Duane pointed out that at least Diaz was wrong about Bill Clinton.

Every single Republican voted No. There was a strong belief that at least a few GOPers would vote yes. But, that didn't happen. I suspect those GOPers bailed once it became clear the bill was going down. They didn't want to be the next Dede Scozzafava for a losing cause. (You recall that she was that GOP candidate for Congress who faced the wrath of all the hard-core right-wingers, including Palin and Beck, because she was too liberal on issues like same-sex marriage.)

So, the backlash begins. And, in New York, an LGBT backlash can be powerful.

TowleRoad has a quote from the Senate sponsor, Tom Duane, who spoke of the betrayal from his fellow Democrats:

"I wasn't expected to be betrayed, and so I have some justified anger. But it's just going to propel me to - I don't want to say redouble my efforts, because my efforts have been pretty strong - but I'm not going to let up. I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I am let down. I'm betrayed. But I am not going away...Unfortunately, I think there was a contagious lack of backbone that occurred here today. And I’m angry about that and sad about that, but it was contagious. Similarly, the opposite would have meant far more votes than anyone had expected but unfortunately that wasn’t the way it went today."

Sounds like there was plenty of betrayal and not nearly enough backbone in Albany today.

Via Joe.My.God, there's a protest in New York City tonight:

A protest about today's vote will take place in Times Square at 6PM on the steps of TKTS booth.

Joe also reported that one of the Senators who ditched us was the Democrat accused of domestic violence:

Among the surprises was a "no" vote from Queens Democrat Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who had previously been a vocal supporter. In October, Monserrate narrowly escaped a felony assault conviction for slashing the face of his girlfriend with a broken glass. Monserrate's NYC office: (718) 205-3881. His Albany office: (518) 455-2529.

Monserrate could marry the woman whose face he allegedly slashed. But, he doesn't think same-sex marriages are worth legal recognition. Bastard.

This is the beginning of the statement from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn about the vote, which I got by email:

“Today the New York State Senate rejected an opportunity to declare that all citizens in New York are equal. The depth of sadness that I and many New Yorkers feel today is difficult to express. This is a loss for every family in New York. This is a loss for every Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender New Yorker.

It was a loss for every all of us -- again. I'm getting sick of losing. And, I'm getting sick of politicians who take our money and don't deliver.

Michael Mitchell, the Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats blasted the Republicans, but also stated (and rightly so) that Democrats have to be held accountable:

"Today's vote also demonstrates that we must be critical in examining those in our own ranks. We cannot allow the Democratic Party to harbor intolerance or hatred of any kind. On a day marked by disappointment, at least now we know which Democrats need to be held accountable on primary day next year."

That's a key point. In New York, a lot of gay money was spent to help Democrats retake control of the State Senate in New York last fall. That was documented in a piece in the New York Times on October 26, 2008, which included this excerpt:

Far from trumpeting their involvement, gay rights groups have been largely silent about their role in Senate campaigns for fear of raising the ire of social conservatives. But a review of campaign finance disclosure forms shows that gay and lesbian advocates have become a quiet but potent force this election season.

All told, gay rights groups and donors affiliated with them have given a total of at least $480,000 this year to Democratic Senate candidates and campaign funds controlled by Democrats, according to the most recent disclosure documents available. Much of that money was donated in the past month and pointed at a handful of competitive races, campaign finance filings show.

So, gays helped put the Democrats in control of the State Senate -- and that is widely known. And, what did we get for that? A crushing defeat.




This is so not over. New York gays started the movement for equality with Stonewall back in 1969. Let's see what happens in 2009. Read More...

BREAKING: New York Senate defeated marriage equality legislation

The New York State Senate just defeated marriage equality by a vote of 24 - 38.

More details to follow.

UPDATE: Every single Republican voted No. Thanks for the help with that one, Mayor Bloomberg. Eight of the 32 Democrats voted no. Read More...

New York State Senate is debating marriage right now

UPDATE @ 2:41 PM: The Senate is now voting.
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UPDATE @ 2:36 PM: Senator Tom Duane is giving the closing for the Democrats. He's a classic. Delving into history, asking if people would want a "do-over" for some of the wrongs of the past. He doesn't want a "do-over" on this one -- and doesn't want to wait. His partner, Louis, isn't at the debate because no one knew for sure that the bill would come to the floor today. He's talking about some of his heroes, including Harvey Milk. Duane thinks he was out before Harvey Milk, "I've been gay a long time."

Joe.My.God reports via Twitter:

Tom Duane is stalling while the GOP Senators (who arent in the chamber) are being strong armed.

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UPDATE @ 2:13 PM: NY1.com has compiled a whip list, breaking down known Senate votes. There are 62 Senators and assuming they all vote, we need 32 votes to win. According to NY1's count, there are 23 supporters, 24 opponents and 15 who are "Undecided / Unavailable / Won't Say." Clearly, a lot of those people know.

One other key thing: The supportive Senators are giving a lot of credit to Senator Tom Duane, the sponsor of the marriage bill, who is openly gay. The debate is getting very personal, which hopefully will help.
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UPDATE @ 1:52 PM: This debate has been amazing. Democrats are speaking first so we're heard mostly from supporters so far. There have been some very moving speeches in support of equality. And, there's something about the way New Yorkers can be so brassy and ballsy and eloquent and forceful.
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As John noted earlier, there will be a vote in New York on marriage soon. In fact, it will come this afternoon. The New York State Senate is debating the marriage equality legislation right now. I've embedded the live feed, which can be seen here, too:

Watch live streaming video from nysenate at livestream.com

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Meredith Baxter, "Family Ties" mom, is gay

Okay, didn't see that one coming. From the Advocate:

Since her TV career heyday in the 1970s and ’80s as a darling of the popular prime-time series Family and Family Ties, Meredith Baxter has mainly flown under the radar, with the exception of a few acclaimed turns in made-for-TV movies such as My Breast and A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story. That is until she boarded the Sweet Caribbean Cruise with thousands of other lesbians last month. If the woman who famously played Elyse Keaton, liberal mother to Michael J. Fox’s conservative Alex on the long-running sitcom Family Ties, thought she would go unnoticed amid generations of gay women who idolized her for her blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American good looks, she was wrong.

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The Salvation Army is a nasty anti-gay evangelical church, don't give them a dime

To wit. From the Washington Post a few years back:

The Bush administration is working with the nation's largest charity, the Salvation Army, to make it easier for government-funded religious groups to discriminate against gay people in hiring, according to an internal Salvation Army document.

The White House has made a "firm commitment" to the Salvation Army to issue a regulation protecting such charities from state and city laws that prevent discrimination against gays in hiring and domestic-partner benefits, according to the Salvation Army report....

George Hood, a senior official with the Salvation Army, said the group never discriminates in delivering its services, but on the question of hiring gay employees, 'it really begins to chew away at he theological fabric of who we are"

And here are a few beauts from the Salvation Army's various Web sites around the world that I pulled up a while back:

"Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage." - Salvation Army USA Web site, Dec. 2003

"[Homosexual activity is] as rebellion against God's plan for the created order.... Homosexual practice, however, is, in the light of Scripture, clearly unacceptable. Such activity is chosen behaviour and is thus a matter of the will. It is therefore able to be directed or restrained in the same way heterosexual urges are controlled. Homosexual practice would render any person ineligible for full membership (soldiership) in the [Salvation] Army." - Salvation Army Australia Web site (emphasis added)

Then in Scotland, the Salvation Army actively lobbied against the repeal of anti-gay laws banning the "promotion" of homosexuality as a "pretended family relationship," arguing that it would harm children:

As the Salvation Army's Scotland Secretary I am writing to you on his behalf to share with you the views of The Salvation Army on this important matter.

We welcome your recognition that marriage is still the ideal context for raising children and your assurances regarding guidelines for teachers in recent discussion on the repeal of "Section 28". However, we believe that by repealing this clause, the Scottish Executive will potentially be harming both children and the family unit.

We are concerned that we cannot predict the result of a repeal, and feel the floodgates could be opened, ultimately causing great hurt to both parents, teachers and our children. We are also very aware of the increasing pressures on young people to experiment with heterosexual sex at a younger age, without the additional pressure of self-questioning regarding homosexual sex.

As an international church and charity which supports and helps any person regardless of sex, race or religion, The Salvation Army believes that, contrary to the Executive's view, the proposed repeal would increase discrimination and result in more bullying in our schools. We can easily envisage a situation where, due to active promotion of homosexuality in schools, children will grow up feeling alienated if they fail to conform.

Then there was the time that the Salvation Army caved to the religious right and took rescinded domestic partner benefits for its gay employees. These are not nice people. Read More...

NY marriage vote coming soon

Andy Towle has the latest. We almost had a vote yesterday, but now it looks like it might happen today. Joe Sudbay has good friends in NY who are quite connected, so hopefully he'll get the scoop, now that he's back in the country. Read More...