NYS Sen. Duane Responds to Bloomberg's Remarks on Marriage

Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Gov. David Paterson's marriage equality bill has "zero" chance of passage this year and said only he could influence key Republican state senators. Openly gay Sen. Thomas K. Duane, the bill's lead sponsor, slams the billionaire mayor and his recent embrace of marriage equality in Gay City News:

"Once again Mike Bloomberg is talking out of both sides of his mouth. The fact of the matter is Mike will stand up in press conferences and talk the talk but at the end of the day he never walks the walk. Mike Bloomberg has consistently supported the Republican Party and its anti-gay marriage agenda. As far as I know, the mayor hasn’t been in on any discussions with Senate Democrats or with Senate Republicans on strategy for getting marriage passed. There have been people involved with his administration that I’ve talked with and others may have spoken to, but I don’t know of the mayor personally speaking to anyone."

For the second week in a row, the Gay City News reported Bloomberg has donated "as much as $2 million in the past two election cycles' to Senate Republicans and suggests this "allows him the leverage to round up GOP votes in favor of gay marriage."

Of course there is another way to look at it: Bloomberg has been underwriting the same anti-gay Senate Republicans who have refused to support the bill for two years.

Duane, Thompson Come Out Swinging [GCN]

The Background:
Bloomberg: Paterson, Thompson Will Renege on Marriage [R20]

Comments

[Cincinnati NAMjA]

You go with your bad self Sen Duane!

[Nathan James]

Consider Mayor Bloomberg's recent track record on LGBT issues: He refused to end the highly questionable arrests of gay men at gay video stores, even after Speaker Quinn, Sen. Duane, and other LGBT leaders publicly called him and the NYPD out on it, made no comments at all regarding the rash of "gay-bashings" around NYC this past year, (he spoke on the Sucuzhanay murder because it was politically "safe" for him to do so--neither brother was actually gay) nor has he voiced any support at all for LGBT events (the many Prides held here each year), LGBT issues such as ENDA or DADT, and he has been conspicuously absent at marches and rallies against gay-bashing attacks.

Bloomberg's sudden johnny-come-lately overtures to the gay community, in this election year, then, should surprise no one. During Sen. Duane's tenure in the New York City Council, Bloomberg routinely vetoed pro-gay legislation authored by Duane. The GOP does not entertain any thought of furthering gay-marriage (or any other gay-rights legislation) at the city OR the state level. Recall that the GOP fractured our State Senate last summer, and gay marriage was one of the precipitators of their parliamentary coup.

Bloomberg even went so far as to deny a venue-change permit application for Heritage Of Pride a couple of years ago. His opponent in this year's Mayoral race, Controller William Thompson, vigorously opposed the Mayor's rebuff of Gay Pride, to no avail. Because of Bloomberg's intransigence, and in spite of widespread community and Council support for the venue change, the planned annual Pridefest was cancelled, to the detriment of the NYC-area LGBT community.

But even with these facts on the record, Bloomberg wishes to cast himself as a friend of NYC's gays and lesbians. Sorry, Mr. Mayor, too little, too late.

[libhomo]

On queer issues that Bloomberg actually has control over as mayor, he has been viciously homophobic.

Anyone But Bloomberg!!!