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Lesbian NYC Council speaker discusses Obama, wedding

Quinn mum on plans for mayoral run in 2013

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Gay News, Washington Blade, Christine Quinn

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (photo by Thomas Good via wikimedia.org)

NEW YORK—New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s May 19 wedding to long-time partner Kim Catullo was quite possibly the Empire State’s political marriage of the year — Gov. Andrew Cuomo, U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were among those who attended the ceremony in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, while retired New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye officiated the wedding.

“When New York State passed marriage equality, one could feel the joy on the streets,” Quinn told the Washington Blade in a recent interview, referencing the same-sex marriage bill that the state Senate narrowly passed in June 2011. Cuomo almost immediately signed it into law. “Everywhere couples went, people asked when are they getting married, what will their wedding be like? You could see and feel their happiness. The fear and gloom that opponents predicted did not come true, the world did not end when gay people could marry. Just the opposite, people felt love and joy. We had the opportunity to publicly commit in a legal ceremony in front of our family and friends, that we are a couple, we are family. And we are just as important as any other family. I will always be grateful for that day and remember that day for the rest of my life.”

Quinn became speaker in 2006. A Quinnipiac University poll last month shows that she remains the front-runner among likely Democratic mayoral candidates who seek to succeed Bloomberg in 2013.

Quinn declined to respond to the Blade’s questions about her presumptive mayoral campaign, but LGBT issues remain an integral part of her overall agenda.

She introduced a bill in 2004 that would have required city contractors to offer equal benefits to registered same-sex domestic partners and married heterosexual couples. Quinn, 46, also worked with Bloomberg and the city’s Department of Education to implement an anti-bullying curriculum in the city’s public schools — a state law, the Dignity in All Schools Act, which specifically bans harassment based on a student’s sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, took effect in July.

Quinn, who was executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project from 1996 to 1999, routinely speaks out against anti-LGBT violence in the five boroughs. She joined other New York City officials who criticized Puerto Rico Gov. Luís Fortuño and his administration for what they contend was an unwillingness to stop anti-LGBT violence on the island in the wake of gay teenager Jorge Steven López Mercado’s 2009 murder. Quinn also continues to boycott the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade because organizers prohibit gay men and lesbians from marching.

The once vocal Bloomberg critic faced widespread criticism from LGBT Democrats, fellow progressives and others in 2008 when she supported the extension of term-limits that allowed the mayor and other city officials, including herself, to run for a third-term. Quinn earlier in the same year also acknowledged a City Council slush fund appropriated more than $17 million to community organizations that did not exist since 2001. She sparked further controversy in July when she demanded that the president of New York University remove Chick-fil-A from campus in response to CEO Dan Cathy’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

Quinn did not comment about those criticisms, but she stressed she feels that nuptials for same-sex couples and the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act remain top priorities for LGBT Americans going into the presidential election. Quinn further pointed to immigration reform that she said would allow “for families to stay connected until” DOMA is repealed and passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act as important priorities.

Quinn, who was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, further applauded President Obama’s record in support of same-sex marriage and other issues. She spoke to the Blade hours after she attended a celebration at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan that commemorated the first anniversary of the repeal of the ban on openly gay service members.

“I am very confident that when people think about what the president offers, his message that we all need to work together, and we can’t leave anyone behind,  they will come out and vote for him,” said Quinn. “This message clearly includes members of the LGBT community. He has supported issues for our community more than any other president. We must get out there, urge our friends and family to vote, become involved, go to a swing state if need be. We can’t go back to a time when we lost rights. We must go forward and re-elect President Obama.”

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.

The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.

An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.

They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.

Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.

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