Hell's Kitchen Journal: The Importance Of Being Corey

 

 

Former State Senator Thomas Duane and Candidate Corey Johnson

Ever have one of those days where unexpectedly a friend makes you extremely proud of them?

My dear friend Corey Johnson, who is running for New York City Council, gave me one of them this week. Corey has been an icon in the LGBT community since he came out to his high school football team in 2000.

Since then he has distinguished himself and those around him by his devoted work on behalf of full equality for LGBT Americans. He has been relentless in determination in this effort and pity the poor homophobic soul who met him in person. Corey does not tolerate fools easily.

When New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn decided to run for Mayor, Corey announced that he would seek her seat. Amazing political observers he raised all the money allowed for the race in record time! As a result of this achievement, his devoted allies and considerable political skills, Corey has been able to keep any serious competition out of the race.

Corey came out this week for the second time.

Known to most of his close friends was the fact that he was HIV positive. However this information has not been public knowledge. He tested positive nine years ago. In a New York Times article by Gina Bellafante:

I met Mr. Johnson one afternoon last week on the 12th anniversary of his move to New York, where he has pursued gay and community advocacy and made many friends, one of them former State Senator Thomas K. Duane, a particularly avuncular man who laughs robustly and cries easily. Under his tutelage, Mr. Johnson has learned a lot about politics and more about life, enough so that now, at 31, he is running for Mr. Duane’s former City Council seat.

Mr. Duane famously won the district that covers much of Manhattan’s West Side below 59th Street (currently represented by the mayoral candidate Christine C. Quinn) in 1991, during the height of the city’s AIDS panic, as one of the first openly H.I.V. positive political candidates in the country. Lending his friend his valuable endorsement, Mr. Duane told me he phoned Mr. Johnson not long ago to talk about the campaign, asking him first, “How are we going to handle your H.I.V. status? Have you told your mother?”

Mr. Johnson was diagnosed during a routine physical exam nine years ago, a revelation that shocked him, he said while seated across a desk from his mentor in Mr. Duane’s Midtown office.

In a sign of how much has changed over the past two decades, Mr. Johnson had not given much thought to his condition in the context of the Council race; in a sign of how little the emotional climate around the disease has altered, Mr. Johnson had not, as it happened, told his mother. “And I’m very, very, very close to my mother,” he said. (His father died of cancer last summer, a day before his paternal grandmother passed away.)

Similarly, Mr. Duane had forestalled telling his own family that he was H.I.V. positive until his nascent political career forced him to do it. “My mother said, ‘Don’t tell anybody,’ and I said, ‘I’m going to tell everybody,’ ” Mr. Duane recounted.

The conventional wisdom around H.I.V. and AIDS is that it is largely a disease of poverty, having migrated away from hubs of affluent gay life in New York to linger in places like central Brooklyn, the South Bronx and Harlem. This is both truth and obfuscation.

According to city statistics, the combined neighborhoods of Chelsea and Clinton have the highest per capita rate of new H.I.V. diagnoses in the city, and also the highest rate of people living with H.I.V. and AIDS. Mr. Johnson said that in his own Council district, which includes Chelsea, where he lives, he has watched the number of H.I.V. cases grow in recent years

When former Senator Tom Duane came out as a candidate who happened to be HIV positive in 1991 it was a major news story across the country. He broke down a barrier and gave HIV Americans new hope. Personally, I have had such awe and admiration for Senator Duane for his courage.

Corey's declaration of his HIV status will hopefully help end the closet that has developed around HIV. With new meds, it is possible to be HIV Positive and in the closet. If you think you don't know anyone with HIV/AIDS, then you are less likely to do battle against the disease. The more people that 'come out' with their status the better the odds of defeating this horrible epidemic.

Unlike Duane's announcement in 1991, Corey's will not send shockwave's across the country. What it will do is make it acceptable to come out of the closet with HIV/AIDS and help bring this ugly health crisis to a quicker end. Really very proud, Corey, to be your friend and thank you for sharing!

New York Times: Frank Bruni Excellent Column On Jason Collins

 

 

 

The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni has written a brilliant column on the 'coming out' of basketball player Jason Collins. He captures the moment perfectly.

Here is an excerpt but be sure to read the entire opinion piece.

That’s the integrated way that things should be, the unremarkable way a person’s sexual orientation ought to be lived and perceived. And that’s precisely what Collins and his fellow trailblazers are trying to move us toward: not a constant discussion of the rightful place and treatment of L.G.B.T. people in America, but an America in which the discussion is no longer necessary. He’s letting us focus on his gayness precisely so we can focus less on others’ down the road.

I point that out because I know that some conversation in the days to come, perhaps not public discussion but certainly private grumbling, will include questions about why Collins has to rock the boat, why the news media is paying such lavish heed to him and why gays and lesbians in general make such a fuss of things. I know this from my in-box, where some readers routinely tell me that they’d be less bothered by homosexuals if we’d just please shut up about it.

Many of us want to, and will: when a gay, lesbian or transgendered kid isn’t at special risk of being brutalized or committing suicide. When the federal government outlaws discrimination against people based on sexual orientation, which it still hasn’t done.

When immigration laws give same-sex couples the same consideration that they do heterosexual ones. When the Defense of Marriage Act crumbles and our committed relationships aren’t relegated to a lesser status, a diminished dignity.

When a Rutgers coach doesn’t determine that the aptly ugly garnish for hurling basketballs at his players’ heads is the slur “faggot.” When professional football scouts don’t try to ascertain that potential recruits are straight.

When an athlete like Collins can be honest about himself without he and his co-author having to stress that he’s a guy’s guy, a godly man, someone who stayed mum about himself before now precisely so he wouldn’t disrupt his teams or upset his teammates, someone who’s inhabited locker rooms for 12 seasons already without incident.

When a gay person’s central-casting earnestness and eloquence aren’t noted with excitement and relief, because his or her sexual orientation needn’t be accompanied by a litany of virtues and accomplishments in order for bigotry to be toppled and a negative reaction to be overcome.

When being gay doesn’t warrant a magazine cover or a phone call from the president, any more than being 34 or being black does.

American Unity Fund Mobilizes Republicans For Marriage Equality

 

 

 

 

 

In a New York Times Article By Nicholas Confessore, plans were reported of the Republican Unity Fund's efforts to pass marriage equality across America. They were instrumental in lining up all five Republican State Senators in Rhode Island and now focusing on Delaware and Illinois. The journalist reported:

When the Rhode Island State Senate tallied up the votes against a same-sex marriage bill passed there on Wednesday, something was missing: Republicans.

All five of the chamber’s Republican lawmakers had voted for the bill, stunning opponents and sending the measure to the governor’s desk and almost-certain victory next week.

The vote reflected not only the rapidly shifting tides of public opinion on same-sex marriage, but also the influence of a new Republican advocacy group called the American Unity Fund, which spent weeks helping the state’s gay rights organization cultivate Republican senators.

Now the group is preparing a major push in Washington and in state capitals intended to reshape the Republican Party, by building support for same-sex marriage and bolstering its acceptance among candidates and party activists around the country.

Founded and financed by some of the country’s leading Republican fund-raisers and strategists, the fund expects to raise up to $7 million this year, officials said. The fund’s organizers include Paul E. Singer and Clifford S. Asness, libertarian-leaning New York investors; David Herro, a prominent Chicago money manager; and Seth Klarman, a billionaire Boston philanthropist and hedge fund manager.

“The concept of gay unions fits very well within our framework of individual liberty and our belief that strong families make for a stronger society,” Mr. Singer said in an e-mail. “The institution of marriage is in very bad shape in this country, yet gay and lesbian couples want very much to be a part of it, to live as committed husbands and wives with their children in traditional family units. This should be what we want as conservatives, for people to cherish and respect this model and to want it for themselves.”

The fund is one of several advocacy organizations backed by wealthy Republicans and business leaders to shift their party’s stance in recent months on issues like immigration and same-sex marriage. And the new effort traces a rift between Republican elites and grass-roots voters over a handful of hot-button social issues that one group views as handcuffing the party and the other sees as essential to its identity.

“We were fighting for years on the life issue, with the same group of people,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, referring to abortion rights. Mr. Perkins attended the Republican National Convention last year as a delegate and wrote the party’s marriage plank, which states that “the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard.”

Mr. Perkins added: “They have money, but they’re small in number. It’s still a tension between those who care about social issues and those who would rather not deal with them.”

Those involved with the American Unity Fund said its initial efforts would be focused on more socially liberal states, like Illinois and Delaware, where a handful of Republican votes could enable advocates to win passage of same-sex marriage legislation in the coming months. The group has already set up shop in Minnesota, where the Legislature may vote as early as next week on a same-sex marriage bill that advocates do not yet have enough votes to pass.

But the group is also beginning a long-term push in more conservative states like West Virginia and Utah, seeking to build conservative support for nondiscrimination laws that could help pave the way for same-sex marriage in coming years. A critical part of the effort, fund strategists said, is building lists of Republican supporters of same-sex marriage around the country that could be used to pressure lawmakers in Washington and elsewhere. That could prove critical at the state level, where Republicans now control majorities or supermajorities in more than half the state capitols.

READ ALL OF IT HERE.....

Democrats Could Be Sitting Pretty In 2014 Governor Races!

 

 

Governor Rick Scott of Florida

The Republicans have the advantage in the United States Senate elections in 2014 with a large number of Democratic incumbents or open seats. Many of those seats are in red states or red-leaning states.

However that is not the case in the race for Governorships in 2014!

There is one vulnerable Independent seat with Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. The weakest Democratic seat is in Illinois with Governor Pat Quinn.

The Republicans have ten seats that are possible with the right money, organization and candidate the Democrats could take them. Especially rewarding is the fact that most of these seats are held by anti-labor, right-wing, anti-LGBT Governors.

Here are the most vulnerable Republican seats who all have high disapproval ratings.

1. Rick Scott (Florida)

2. Sam Brownback (Kansas)

3. Tom Corbett (Pennsylvania)

4. Paul LePage (Maine)

5. Rick Snyder (Michigan)

6. Nathan Deal (Georgia)

7. Nikki Haley (South Carolina)

8. Rick Perry (Texas)

9. Sean Parnell ( Alaska)

10. Scott Walker (Wisconsin)

Chart Prepared by Nate Silver of New York Times

New York Mayor's Race: Conduct Unbecoming - Just Bash Chris!

 

 

 

"Members of the audience called her a “liar,” an opponent relentlessly attacked her, and the moderator at one point had to beg the scornful crowd to let her speak."

-New York Times (April 21, 2013)

Little did New Yorkers realize that Speaker Christine Quinn was such an evil person.

Forget her stellar record as Speaker of the New York City Council. Ignore the fact that she presented seven balance budgets on time. Put aside that she has fought for the rights of others even when it wasn't politically popular. Don't remember the times when she travel to poor neighborhoods and stood with the mothers of gun victims often without press and sometimes only seven or eight people standing with her. And, for God sakes, don't remember how day in and day out she was there and is still there for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Quinn's male opponents have crossed the line in their conduct with personality attacks, distorting her record and whipping up their supporters in a frenzy of 'hate Chris'. The well known mild mannered Alex Baldwin launch a vicious attack on her as he is supporting Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. Really, Alex, of all the evil in the world Christine Quinn deserves that kind of tirade?

They, with delight, proclaim that she is tough, cusses and plays a hard games of politics. In fact, if they described a male candidate with those attributes he would be call a decisive leader. Let's face it. These guys are having a hard time dealing with the fact that they might lose to open lesbian who would be the first woman Mayor of New York City.

Christine Quinn is an unapologetic tough daughter of Ireland who gets things done. She is tough. She does cuss. She doesn't put up with nonsense. She doesn't like delays when Hurricane Sandy victims aren't being helped. She has no patience for homophobia from anyone. She is a feminist who wears that badge with pride.

Christine Quinn is a strong powerful leader and is the perfect person to take over the City of New York.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and her Democratic opponents are good men. They have stood for good things. This kind of conduct is beneath them and they know better. It is simply conduct unbecoming.

More important, while these candidates are strong supporters of LGBT rights, these kind of angry attacks gives permission to the homophobic and misogynist crazies out there. Of course you have every right to challenge her on the issues. Quinn can handle it. She needs to handle it.

Hopefully you can stand for more then you are not Christine Quinn!  However don't tolerate the increasing anger, disruption and hatred that is taking place. Speak out against it. Tell Mr. Baldwin and others that their anger is misdirected.

For those of us fortunate enough to attend the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund brunch this past Sunday, we heard speaker after speaker talk about the difference having one of our own in office makes in protecting the right of LGBT Americans really struck home. Congressman Sean Maloney gave an eloquent speech how it has affected his colleagues on the floor of the House.

When it came Quinn's turn she was powerful, moving and a leader. She talked about young LGBT Americans and our obligations to them. She talked about her vision for the city. All I could think of as she was speaking was what an excellent tough and visionary Mayor she would make for the Big Apple.

Go get them Christine

New Marist Poll Shows Anthony Weiner In Second Place Behind Strong Quinn

 

 

The first Marist poll was released since former Congressman Anthony Weiner started a firestorm of press by thinking of entering the Mayor's race. Weiner was forced to resign not only because of the photographs he sent out over Twitter but by lying about them for weeks.

A very high 46% of the voters do not want the disgraced Congressman to enter the race. Without Weiner in the race, Quinn polls 30% and is likely to face a run-off in September. She still holds a considerable lead after a series of brutal attack ads.

Nate Silver of the The New York Times said in a Tweet: "100% name recognition and just 15% ballot support? That's an ugly poll for Weiner, not an encouraging one."

Clearly his entry changes the dynamic of the race. Quinn still has a 11% lead over him. The other factor is that Weiner is detracting from the other candidates and slowing their momentum. 

Christine Quinn: 26%

Anthony Weiner: 15%

John Liu: 12%

Bill de Blasio: 11%

Bill Thompson: 11%

Sal Albanese: 3%

Undecided: 22%

BREAKING NEWS SHOCKER! CHRISTINE QUINN IS TOUGH! OH MY GOD!

 

 

 

The New York Times in a front page story broke the news to shocked New Yorkers's that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is one tough elected official. They even accused her of losing her temper, shouting at people and God forbid, she even curses. Not sure if the citizens of the Big Apple will ever recover from such desvastating news. After all she isn't one of the good ole boys she is a woman.

Really folks? Really? This deserves a front page story in the New York Times?

Of course the media and her opponents are piling on as if she had been caught stealing millions of dollars.

Yea, I bet she can be a tough leader. Also believe she loses her temper every once in a while with some City Council members (have you met some of them?). She is Irish so I am sure she know how to play a perfect game of politics. Some officials actually made the stunning claim that she rewards friends and punishes her enemies. Well, that is certainly a new theory in politics.

Really folks this isn't news.

In William Manchester's The Last Lion he shares about Churchill's temper. President Clinton was known by his staff for his 'purple rages'. President Johnson had a temper and played for keeps when it came to distributing the goodies. President Nixon even had an enemies list.

Quinn has been tough and that is exactly why this City Council has been one of most productive in years. Quinn plays a hard game of politics in a tough city. That is exactly why she will be an excellent Mayor. Quinn remembers friends. Do we really want her to forget them?

If this is the biggest issue they have against Quinn then that in itself tells you something. Unfortunately the attacks against her will get uglier as desperation grows among her opponents. She is the first woman and first open LGBT American that could be Mayor of New York City. People just don't do well with 'firsts' as we saw with our President.

Quinn makes the Irish proud and she certainly makes me proud. After all, I have been known to spread around a few salty words myself.

'New York Times' Columnist Maureen Dowd Nails Day In Court

 

 

 

When New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd gets it right she really gets it right. In today's column, 'Courting Cowardice', she takes the United States Supreme Court to task for being out of touch.

Here are some excerpts but be sure to read this entire column:

Swing Justice Anthony Kennedy grumbled about “uncharted waters,” and the fuddy-duddies seemed to be looking for excuses not to make a sweeping ruling. Their questions reflected a unanimous craven impulse: How do we get out of this? This court is plenty bold imposing bad decisions on the country, like anointing W. president or allowing unlimited money to flow covertly into campaigns. But given a chance to make a bold decision putting them on the right, and popular, side of history, they squirm.

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Donald Verrilli Jr., the U.S. solicitor general arguing on the side of same-sex marriage, told the justices, “There is a cost to waiting.” He recalled that the argument by opponents of interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 was to delay because “the social science is still uncertain about how biracial children will fare in this world.”

The wisdom of the Warren court is reflected two miles away, where a biracial child is faring pretty well in his second term in the Oval Office.

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The fusty legal discussion inside was a vivid contrast with the lusty rally outside. There were some offensive signs directed at gays, but the vibrant crowd was overwhelmingly pro same-sex marriage. One woman summed it up nicely in a placard reading “Gays have the right to be as miserable as I make my husband.”

The only emotional moment in court was when Justice Kennedy brought up the possible “legal injury” to 40,000 children in California who live with same-sex parents. “They want their parents to have full recognition and full status,” he told Cooper. “The voice of those children is important in this case, don’t you think?”

While Justice Alito can’t see into the future, most Americans can. If this court doesn’t reject bigotry, history will reject this court.

Frank Bruni Weighs In On The Supreme Court And LGBT Americans

 

 

 

Articulate and powerful New York Times columnist Frank Bruni in a sweeping column weighs in on the week ahead for LGBT Americans in the United States Supreme Court. This is a must read.

Here is the opening:

I’M not sure I’ve ever seen advocates of gay rights — of equal rights, I should say — as revved up as they are right now, with the Supreme Court poised, on Tuesday and Wednesday, to consider same-sex marriage in two separate cases.

But while they’re watching this moment raptly and hopefully, it’s not with a sense that the fate of the cause hangs in the balance. Quite the opposite. They’re watching it with an entirely warranted confidence, verging on certainty, that no matter what the justices say during this coming week’s hearings and no matter how they rule months from now, the final chapter of this story has in fact been written. The question isn’t whether there will be a happy ending. The question is when.

That’s what’s truly remarkable about this juncture: the aura of inevitability that hovers over it. In an astonishingly brief period of time, this country has experienced a seismic shift in opinion — a profound social and political revolution — when it comes to gay and lesbian people. And it’s worth pausing, on the cusp of the court hearings, to take note of this change and to mull what’s behind it.

As for the change itself, look at the last month alone. Look merely at the Republican Party. Although its 2012 platform called for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, scores of prominent Republicans, including a few senior advisers to Mitt Romney’s campaign, broke ranks in late February and put their names to a Supreme Court amicus brief in favor of marriage equality.

That these dissidents can’t be dismissed as pure anomalies was made clear at the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend. CPAC, mind you, is no enclave of moderation and reason. It’s more like an aviary for the far-right “wacko birds” whom John McCain recently called out.

But as BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner, who covered the conference, noted, “Opponents of gay rights spoke to a nearly empty room, while supporters had a standing-room-only crowd.” That observation came under a headline that said, “At CPAC, the Marriage Fight Is Over.” The article went on to quote a bit of counsel that the Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin gave her fellow conservatives. On the issue of same-sex marriage, she told them, the country was headed in one and only one direction. Republicans could either get with the program or get comfy with their image of being woefully out of touch.

The BuzzFeed article was posted last Sunday. On Thursday, in Politico, came the sweeping declaration that March 2013 would perhaps go down as “the month when the political balance on this issue shifted unmistakably from risky to safe.” That assessment reflected formal endorsements of same-sex marriage, in less than a week’s span, by both Rob Portman and Hillary Clinton.

Read the entire column here.....

American Catholics Overwhelmingly Support Marriage Equality, Birth Control and Women Priests

 

 

The stakes are high for the American Catholic Church when they select the new Pope in the next couple of weeks. Literally the future of the Catholic Church in America could be at stake. The results of the latest New York Times/CBS Poll contain grave warnings for the American Bishops. If the next Pope is very conservative in the vain of Pope Benedict XVI or even worse, it might be the best news for the Episcopal Church in years.

The poll showed:

-70% of American Catholics believe the church and its leadership are out of touch.

-70% said Pope Benedict XVI did a poor job of handling the sex abuse outrage.

-75% believed that Pope Benedict XVI should have resigned.

-70% believe Priests should be allowed to marry.

-70% believe that birth control should be allowed

-70% believe that women should be Priests

-62% believe in marriage equality

-46% of American Catholics no longer believe that the Pope is infallible.