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New York Governor Leading the Way for Gay Rights
07/02/08
By C. Liang
When
he participated in New York’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Pride March alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Charles Schumer
and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Governor David Paterson
received thunderous applause and praise from the gay community for his
vigorous efforts in advocating gay rights. Just a month prior, New York
Governor Paterson issued a directive to state agencies to recognize and
provide full marriage benefits to gay couples who were legally married
elsewhere.
“When Governor Paterson says he's a friend to the LGBT community, he
means it... What he did ... sends a message that leadership isn't about
waiting. It's about finding the opportunity. It's about finding the way
to move progress and civil rights forward,” said Quinn.
No governor has ever embraced the gay community as fully as Governor
Paterson, who is believed to be the first serving governor to ever
march in a gay pride parade. Even a thunderstorm halfway through didn’t
dampen the mood of those that were marching down Fifth Avenue. The
parade involved half a million participants and an estimated 1 million
onlookers.
However, not everyone is happy about Governor Paterson’s initiative
on behalf of the gay community. Representing several state Republican
officials, a conservative Christian policy group is suing the governor
in State Supreme Court in the Bronx over the directive. Governor
Paterson remains firm.
“It is the law and it is the right thing to do. I stand by it,” he
said. “If someone would like to go to court and waste their money and
prove me wrong, they can do that. And I welcome that.”
Democratic Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell believes that Governor Paterson is emerging as an icon for the gay community.
Gilbert Baker, the creator of the Rainbow Flag, and Candis Cayne, the transsexual actress who recently appeared on Dirty Sexy Money, were the grand marshals for the parade.
The parade honors the memory of the 1969 Stonewall riots, when patrons
fought back against a police raid of a gay bar in Greenwich Village.
