I've certainly been staying away from city politics when it comes to this blog. Not sure if it's a reflection of having withdrawn a lot from my involvement in several political organizations to take a breather or just how jaded I have become in respect to city politics (or state and national politics for that matter).
One thing I am certain though is how much I truly like our City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Sure, I expressed some reservations back in 2006 when she was elected Speaker, but, for the most part she has proven me wrong. She is widely expected to run for Mayor after Mike Bloomberg is termed-out of office for what will probably be a wide open race with an array of candidates but if she does decide to enter the fray, she will be a force to reckon with.
In any case, the reason I mention Christine is that this morning she introduced the Domestic Partners for Full Equality bill in the City Council which would require that "any benefit or service directly provided by the City of New York to persons based on spousal relationship shall also be fully available to persons who are domestic partners."
In a press release, Speaker Quinn says "While we continue to fight for the full right to marry, the legislation proactively insures that in New York City, whatever married couples are entitled to, domestic partners will be entitled to as well."
Interestingly, among two of the three additional co-sponsors of the bill, are Latina councilmembers Rosie Mendez, who is gay, and Maria Baez, who is not.
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2 days ago
2 comments:
Wow, that is big news...is the bill expected to pass and be signed by Bloomberg?
That is uncertain. While Christine Quinn as Council Speaker has shown an ability to work closely with the Mayor, Bloomberg is known to believe that "legislating" changes in public attitude towards social issues is something he does not endorse (or at least that was the reason he gave, if I remember well, for not backing a law that would have required that companies that do business with the City of New York provide health benefits to same-sex partners of their employees if it was already their policy to do so for heterosexual couples. That bill was also introduced and supported by Christine Quinn)
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