Bloomberg and Thompson Disagree on Obama's Gay Rights Advances

Last night, gay rights came up once during the "lightning round" of the New York City mayoral debate between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic opponent Comptroller William Thompson, who was recently endorsed by President Obama. The moderator asked: "Has President Obama done enough for gay rights?"

Bloomberg: "No."

Thompson: "He’s been there nine months. Yes."

How about a next question: Has Bloomberg?

Via Towleroad, watch AFTER THE JUMP.

Comments

[Jairaun]

Has Bloomberg?
I thought he was only a mayor? What could he do that would influence the entire state of New York? That question should have been posed to Gov. Paterson instead.

However, LOL @ Thompson, he just HAD to give a different answer than Bloomberg. It didn't even come out genuine, it came out like a cop out.

LOL!! He wasn't even able to articulate it without making it sound like a poor excuse.

Bless his heart...

Are you asking about the same Gov. Paterson who introduced a marriage bill, ordered state agencies to recognize legal same sex marriages and is pushing for GENDA? lolz -RM

[Chris Cruz]

"I thought he was only a mayor?
What could he do that would influence the entire state of New York? That question should have been posed to Gov. Paterson instead."

You're really don't know New York City or its politics, do you dear? As mayor of New York City, Bloomberg has been responsible for fighting the state's recognition of same sex marriages in court, opposed the legislature voting for marriage equality and has overseen the NYPD shutting down gay clubs and arresting many gay men in bookstores.

Thompson, as city comptroller, has threatened to withdrawn billions of dollars in NYC pension funds from companies that do not have anti-discrimination policies. Thompson also has been supporting same sex marriage since 2000, and is supported by much of the city's gay leadership.

Paterson (and Deval Patrick) has been described as the most gay friendly governor is the nation and introduced a gay marriage bill.

But you just HAD to give a different answer than. Bless your heart. smh

[RD]

@ Jairun:

I think Rod's point was there is a helluva lot more Bloomberg could do as mayor, as many of us have said here in NYC. The fact that Bloomberg always opposed gay marriage and only supports it now for his re-election is just one thing. Or you could look at how he has donated millions of dollars to the same state senate republicans who are opposing our rights.

Paterson has made some bad decisions and is not the best manager. He's probably not going to be lose the primary and will not get re-elected. But it baffles me how any gay person who knows his record here in New York would even make that comment.

For the record, I do beleive that Obama has been just the opposite, too cautious on gay rights and unafraid to show leadership. Obama and Paterson may have different styles, but Paterson has always "lead" on that issue. Just my two cents.

[Luther]

Not surprised at all, Bloomberg knows there is a deep vein of discontent among many gay folks and he is using it to get votes as any politician would, and, many will in upcoming elections, even when they haven't done a thing for the glbt community, although for some reason, does or did his opponent ever even have a chance? I was under the impression that Bloomberg is "loved" by the NYC voter as much as that vile Guilani was.

[libhomo]

The irony here is that Bloomberg's own record has been terribly homophobic.