The following post expresses the personal political analysis and views of BigMouth, and should not be mistaken for the views of the entire Big Queer community of contributors.
I hope none of Big Queer's readers get too peeved, but I'm going to get a little New York City-centric today. We've got
a mayoral election coming up that should concern all gay people, because it involves one of those so-called liberal Republicans. The one's that are "practically" Democrats, until a political career is at stake and it's time to throw some hate and heat toward the queers and watch them roast. Wolves in sheep's in wolf's clothing these people; or in the case of California: wolf-inators.
On October 14, 2005, the
Empire State Pride Agenda bucked the trend of other so-called left wing and Democratic organizations, denied Mayor Bloomberg an endorsement, and
endorsed Democratic candidate Fernando Ferrer.
Thank the frigging gay gods! Have we already forgotten that on the same day Mayor Mike said that he supported gay marriage in the state of New York, he also
appealed a court decision that would have allowed same-sex couples to get married? The man can speak out of both sides of his mouth at
the same time. Even the magical press-spinning wunderkind in the White House hasn't managed that one yet.
And lest you think I want all gay and lesbian people in New York City to be single-issue voters, let's not forget Bloomberg's blockage of the
Equal Benefits Law and the
Dignity in All Schools Act. The Mayor may say he supports gay unions but apparently not if it means gay spouses should receive the same benefits as straight spouses. Plus, he apparently doesn't mind when 'tweens and teens get called dyke or faggot or get the 12-year-old crap beat out of them on school grounds.
Need more reasons? Some less queer (but still queer nonetheless) ones? How about the fact that he's so out of touch with the 1 in 5 New Yorkers who live in
poverty? How about the ways he's
hurt or
ignored New York City's artists (even though the New York Times seems to have conveniently forgotten this in it's endorsement this past Sunday)? How about the way he's buying the election through spending his personal fortune on
advertising and conveniently working out union contracts to
buy endorsements?
Now, it's true, I am at the moment a little
ambivalent about gay marriage, but I certainly don't want that to be misconstrued as a reason to so hatefully discriminate against me. Let's stop this trend of being ruled by billionaires. Let's stop kidding ourselves that any Republican will support queer people with their actions in office instead of throwing us to their party when they need to shore up their base. And most of all let's stop thinking that anyone on a federal level will truly support us if we can't get supporters on the local and state level.
See you at the polls, New Yorkers, on November 8, 2005!
