Still Voting for Fernando Ferrer

As Politicker posts sometimes are, there seems to have been less to the story about Ferrer and the homophobic Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr. about which I wrote a few days back. Though the two appeared at a press conference, there was no endorsement by Diaz as rumored and no endorsement is apparently coming down the line as well. And after all is said and done, Ferrer still stands against the Reverend's positions on LGBT rights.

As political games go, the issue of Diaz is a sore point for me as a leader in the Latino LGBT community but I just keep looking at the comparissons between Bloomberg and Ferrer that Andy Humm made in last week's Gay City News and have to say that I might have jumped the gun. My vote remains with Fernando Ferrer.

As for Freddy, I got this today:

Dear Friends in the LGBT Community:

I am running for mayor to fight for our Democratic values and to build a city that works better for all of us, and I am asking for your support.

I have dedicated my career to fighting for economic and social justice for all New Yorkers. Sometimes this was not a popular position to take, but being popular is not necessarily being right and I have always known the difference. As Bronx Borough President, I created the first LGBT Advisory Council and funded the first Lavender Center in the Bronx. My office organized the first gay pride parade in the borough – and I led it as Grand Marshall.

I am running for Mayor now because, as a city, we can do better. We can be fairer, more inclusive, and we can make our city work better for more of us. We can do better than a Republican Mayor who donates millions of dollars to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, George Pataki and conservative Republicans throughout the country.

I’m running to build a city that works better for all of us:

• That means standing firm in support of equal marriage rights for all New Yorkers – not, as Mike Bloomberg has done, appealing a historic State Supreme Court decision which would have expanded human rights and liberties.
• That means standing up for equal pay and equal benefits for all New York couples – not, as Mike Bloomberg has done, failing to support the Equal Benefits Law and allowing our city to lag behind San Francisco, Los Angeles , Seattle and even Minneapolis, all of which have established equal benefits laws.
• That means standing up for all of our kids by enforcing the Dignity for All Students Act - not, as Mike Bloomberg has done, reneging on a campaign promise to ensure that every student is treated with respect and free from bullying and taunts by promising to enforce the DASA and then callously vetoing it..
• That means helping to protect all New Yorkers from the spread of HIV/AIDS by working to build permanent housing for infected low-income persons and educating all New Yorkers of the dangers of that disease.
• And that means understanding that New York’s LGBT community is as diverse as any other. It includes the young and old, people of all ethnicities, native languages, incomes and neighborhoods.

Please join me. Together we can build a city that works better for all of us. But I need your help and support. And I need your voice, your energy, your time and your spirit.

Let us do better, together.

Sincerely,

Fernando Ferrer

New Yorkers For Ferrer

14 East 38^th Street ∙ 11^th Floor ∙ New York, New York 10016
212-684-2005 ∙ fax 212-481-9505