In Albany, one very good thing about one very bad mess

If you haven't heard: New York State Democratic Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate, who face potentially career-ending legal battles in the near future, seem to have pulled a leadership coup d'état by voting with Senate Republicans to remove current Democratic Majority Leader Malcom Smith, and replace him with Republican State Senator Dean Skelos.

Caught way off-guard, Smith has argued that the vote is worthless since he says it came after Monday's session had ended - an argument that has been challenged - and has said that he will not step back on the Senate floor unless he is assured that it won't be governed by "unlawful rules." The politerati pretty much agree that -legal argument viable or not - Smith is toast.

Doors to the Senate Chamber have been under lock and paddle since Monday evening (photo credit: Daily News).

What a mess, you may say! And so do I! But lost in the whole melee was that yesterday was the date chosen by anti-gay groups for their "Stand 4 Marriage Rally" and lobby day trip to Albany!

Yes! Yesterday was supposed to be the big launch of the united forces against equality campaign in New York. Yesterday was the day that the homophobic National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher was supposed to stand in a loving embrace with homophobic State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and blow anti-gay kisses towards the legislative chambers. Yesterday was the day that Michael Long, Chairman of the State Conservative Party; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. of the High Impact Leadership Coalition; Rev. Duane Motely of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms; Democratic Assemblymember Michael Benjamin; and Republican State Senator Marty Golden were all supposed to urge the Senate not to allow a marriage bill on the floor and to oppose it if it it ever came up for a vote.

Oh noes! So sad! NOMfail! Again.

To be sure, there were probably other community groups who planned to lobby for worthwhile bills and causes this week and you have to feel bad for them for the energy spent herding participants and expenses spent on transportation and such. But how great is it that NOM gets there only to find the doors shut down?

Mediawise, the groups also laid a big fat egg. I found only a few articles with The Legislative Gazette naming some of the speakers who attended, and Capital News 9 saying that hundreds showed up.


Today Jeremy at Good As You posted the YouTube video above from Capital 9 News as well as some image captures. They show a good crowd but it's difficult to estimate whether there are the 1,000 that some conservative groups have estimated. ChinoBlanco, who originally posted the video online, called it "a flop."

So, let's say that you go to Albany to lobby your State Senators but there are no State Senators to lobby. What do you do? Well, paint a smiley face on the whole thing and call it a success, of course.

See the Rev. Duane Motley of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms in the video telling the crowd "What God has done is dropped a huge boulder in the path of the same sex-marriage bill yesterday, when the Senate coup took place."

Apparently he felt that a Republican-led power play meant that the Senate marriage bill was dead on arrival during the current session.


Oops! Good luckwith that! The man on the video above is non other than former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican who was perhaps one of three of the most powerful politicians in the state until he resigned last year. He is facing indictments in several corruption charges which he has vowed to prove unfounded, but is still held in high-esteem by a large number of State Republican Senators.

More than a few jaws hit the ground when word came that Bruno was backing marriage equality. Rod at Manhattan Offender simply said "Words Fail", Joe at Joe.My.God said "THUD" and Andy Towleroad wrote "The times are changing, and quickly."

Longtime LGBT rights advocate Michelangelo Singorile, who hosts a daily radio show on Sirius, wrote that "Hell Has Frozen Over" and described Bruno as "a man who held up a gay rights bill for years, without allowing a vote and has been a fierce foe of gay rights". He added:

Now we have Bruno coming out for marriage for gays and lesbians -- a man who still has a lot of influence among Republicans in the State Senate -- and actually agreeing to speak out and try to sway Republicans (we only need four Republicans or so to win this) at Governor Paterson's request on the issue. I think it's clear that they see the handwriting on the wall: The entire Northeast has gone for marriage equality, while, on a variety of issues, the Republican Party is having a moment of truth nationally and surely in the region. There will soon only be two Republicans in New York State's Congressional delegation, as the national party went further to the right and people in New York just weren't going to go there.

Indeed! And that Bruno video certainly added to the NOMfail Tuesday atmosphere. Amazing that a marriage equality bill might come to the State Senate floor as soon as next week, as a result of a Republican power-play, and that it has better chances to pass today than even last week, thanks to Republican pressure on State Republican Senators. Only in New York, folks! Although it ust be said that everything is still up in the air and that everything might change again.

Pride Agenda's LGBT Equality and Justice Day in Albany

Perhaps it was a good thing that neither I, nor the technicians at the sprawling Convention Center in Albany, could figure out how to hook up my laptop to a local internet service provider. The Empire State Pride Agenda had asked me to come up to the state capital and 'live-blog' Tuesday's LGBT Equality and Justice Day, but the technical snafu meant that I wasn't necessarily tethered to the blogger area which freed me to explore the action around me.

In any case, I'm not sure that 'live-blogging' the event would have been such a hot thing (even if the Human Rights Campaign certainly gave it a good try).

I mean, I could certainly have written stuff like "the energy is tremendous and contagious" - and it sorta was in a non-Swine flu kinda way - but I'm not sure how much of the sentiment might have carried through to blog readers. It's also though to 'live blog' events at which speaker after speaker is talking to a crowd trying to energize them but not necessarily saying something news-worthy.

The truly awe-inspiring thing was the number of people who participated this year. The Pride Agenda estimated it at 2,000 and said that they actually had to turn people back since all buses were packed (or, as the Pride Agenda's Alan Van Capelle put it, the event was a bigger draw than a Madonna concert) and it certainly showed. The Convention Center was packed and more than one speaker mentioned that it wasn't every day that legislators saw that many people gathered for a lobby day on a specific issue.

For those who made it to Albany, the Pride Agenda was urging attendees to lobby for three specific bills - The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), The Dignity for All Students Act (DASA), and the marriage equality bill - but it was clear that the large numbers and the excitement in the crowd mostly stemmed from the prospect that a marriage equality might be within reach in New York State.

This follows Governor David Paterson's recent high-profile statements indicating that he would push for passage of a marriage equality bill possibly during the current legislative session. It was certainly a thrill to see him receive an Obama-like rock-star welcome by the crowd gathered at the Center but, as much as I like the Governor, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed.

First, after shocking the body politic earlier this month by saying that he would push for a vote on the bill - whether the votes for passage were there or not - the Governor back-tracked a bit last week by telling reporters that he would follow the State Senate Majority Leader's lead on whether to push for a Senate vote (the Assembly passed a marriage equality bill in 2007 and is expected to do so again if a similar bill reaches the floor; the Senate majority has never allowed a similar bill to reach the floor for a vote).

The current Senate Majority Leader is, of course, Senator Malcom Smith, who - like Paterson - is the first African-American person to hold the post - and someone who has shown great leadership on marriage equality in the past. But with most marriage equality advocates lining up behind Paterson's marriage equality push, Smith has resisted the pressure to move on such a bill, and has said that he won't allow a vote unless he is certain that the votes are there to ensure passage.

Some have said that his reluctance doesn't necessarily come from pragmatism but, instead, stems from the political interests that allowed him to become majority leader (if you remember, his nomination was hijacked by three Democrats, including homophobic Senator Ruben Diaz, who said they would not support him unless he acceded to their demands, Diaz' demand being that the Senate would not vote on a marriage equality bill in the current session).

Anyway, after Paterson's big speech, I was invited to a press conference with the Governor where I was also surprised to hear him say that he had yet to personally lobby any legislator on the issue. I can't say whether this is how it's done with Albany on other bills, but I would have thought that the Governor might have been working on certain legislators for support of what he certainly has called one of his top legislative priorities. Let's hope he begins to do so soon.

With the morning speeches done, Equality & Justice Day participants headed to the legislative offices and quickly jammed-up the lines to the elevators. Then again, what would you expect with 2,000 folk hurrying to make it to the scheduled visits? The mood, though, was... eh... well, tremendous and contagious (take it from me and the HRC).

I tagged along as a number of people walked into the office of NYS Assemblyperson Barbara S. Lifton. She represents the 125th Assembly District upstate New York (Cortland and Tompkins counties) and expressed support for all three bills.

But, proving that not all legislative visits are all boring and dry, instead of sharing our personal stories to convince a legislator to vote on our behalf, Lifton turned the table and shared some of her personal reasons for backing LGBT rights.

Fighting back tears, she spoke movingly of her brother, who passed away from AIDS, and of his partner, who she called "My brother in law". She also said that she had initially supported civil marriage rights for same-sex couples but had ultimately come around to support full marriage equality. Ultimately, she said, words do matter and 'marriage' is a word that conveys not only the rights and responsibilities granted by the state to a couple who loves each other, but also the recognition and celebration of a couple's commitment before the law, society and family. She said that she wished her brother could be alive when marriage equality eventually reaches New York State because he and his partner should not have deserved anything less but equal rights.

In other words, she was great.

MY favorite encounter of the whole day was an unscheduled run-in with Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr.

I was in the State Senate wing waiting for an elevator to take me back down when the doors opened and - lo-and-behold - there he was. Actually, it took me by surprise, since I assumed he might stay away from his office on E&J Day.

He stared at me intently, with the same mistrustful stare he gave me at an anti-gay rally that took place last September (right), and I just looked back at him and smiled sweetly.

No words were exchanged and we each went our separate ways, but I was just greatly enjoying the thought of thousands of us in the building and the Senator having to just grin and bear it.

At noon, it was rally time. Here is the great Alan Van Capelle, ED of the Pride Agenda, being interviewed with ralliers in the back-ground on what turned to be a scorcher of an April day (I believe temperatures reached the 90's). At one point the crowd spontaneously burst into a Spanish-language chant of Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede! Echoes, probably, of the sounds of the Obama presidential campaign rather than those of Latino farmworker rights and immigration rights rallies.

A number of religious leaders from different denominations spoke in support of equal rights. I saw only two anti-gay protesters (click here and here) who were soundly booed and, in one case, driven out of the park by a group of young gay people of color queer folk (there was an amazing number of queer youth of color at Equality and Justice this year).

There were also a couple of personal encounters that I truly appreciated: At the rally, I was approached by a young Latino guy who pointed at me and asked "Hey, aren't you a blogger?" I was totally surprised and embarrassed! He was, I believe, from Rochester, and said he was a frequent reader and loved the blog. I felt honored.

And, after an early afternoon People of Color caucus, a young woman of Colombian descent approached me and asked for advice on how to handle the coming out process with her parents. I was so touched and I hope the advice I gave her truly helps her deal with what she described as a difficult situation. From what she shared, despite the difficult situation, I have a feeling that things will turn out OK. I wish her the best.

After another set of legislative visits in the afternoon, everyone made their way back to the buses, trains and automobiles. I had been on the early morning bus from Queens but, during the day, had ran into my friend Pauline Park, and she later told me that one of her friends had offered both of us a ride home.

It turned out that Pauline's friend was a man who identifies himself as a cross-dresser. I have a few transgender friends, including Pauline, but I can't say that I am too familiar with cross-dressing men who might identify as straight. One of the first things he told me was that I was glad I was coming along because if the conversation got boring we could certainly talk football with no small attempt at macho bluster. He was great, actually, and a hoot and a half. He also had distinctive male facial characteristics which made 'passing' as a woman almost impossible. Which explained the surprised looks and outright derisive laughter I saw and heard when we made a couple of rest stops. It was all very Transamerican-ish, if I may say.

The funny thing was that, as we were driving, Pauline noticed a truck next to us with a certain word written on its side. Lucky for us, we actually caught up to the truck at a truck stop / rest area spot. And, well, how could we not take this picture? That's Pauline next to the truck. A perfect end to this years LGBT Equality and Justice Day.

One final word: I just love the Pride Agenda and thank them for inviting me to cover the event. Most importantly I was in awe of the way they pulled this year's event off considering the huge number of participants and making sure that things ran well. Just an amazing bunch of folks.

More photos of LGBT E&J Day here.

Related:

• LGBT Activists Pour into Albany (Gay City News)
• The Governor Speaks Out (Gay City News)
  
• Equality & Justice Day 2009 (The Agenda)
• Lone Protestor at Equality and Justice Day Is Chased Away by Children in Rainbow Tights (NY Mag's Daily Intel)
• LGBT Equality & Justice Day - State Capital (Ministry from Two Poles)
• Lobbying for Equality & Justice in New York - Reports and Video (Towleroad)
  

Breaking News: Malcom Smith is 1st African American NY State Senate Majority Leader

Tonight, Elizabeth Benjamin - who blogs on political issues for the New York Daily News - is reporting that Queens State Senate Representative Malcom Smith will indeed become the first African American to hold the NY State Majority Leader post ("Mr. Majority Leader").

It is a momentous occasion in a year that will see the first African American president be sworn into office later this month. But it is also an unresolved moment for those of us who had great expectations for Smith - particularly on his commitment to LGBT issues - as he wavered on the issue of same-sex marriage in order to grab enough votes to become majority leader.

The good news? Smith is set to become Majority Leader as a friend to the LGBT community. The bad news? It is still unclear what it means for the prospect of a same-sex marriage bill being passed in the State Senate, despite gloating from homophobic State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.

The one clear point: Sen. Smith will be Majority Leader and Sen. Diaz will not. We will measure Smith's commitment not only by his past commitments but also by his actions as Majority Leader.

Update: Same-sex marriage bill not in the pipeline as NYS 'Gang of Three' end stalemate

A flurry of activity emerged today regarding the so-called Gang of Three.

For those of you not up to date: After Democrats gained a slight majority in the State Senate in the November elections, three Democratic Senators threatened to vote with the Republican minority and not to support Democrat Malcom Smith as majority leader come January unless they got some needs met and their egos stroked.

For State Senator (and Pentecostal minister) Ruben Diaz, Sr. the needs included blocking Smith from bringing a same-sex marriage bill to the Senate floor for a vote.

The Albany Times-Union Capitol Confidential Blog and The Politicker have some details but Elizabeth Benjamin at the NY Daily News has the break-down ("Details of a Leadership Deal").

On the possibility of a bill granting marriage rights to same-sex couples in New York State:

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage will not be brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote this year [Ed. note: I assume Benjamin means 2009]. Smith will announce that he does not believe the measure has sufficient votes to pass - a statement that is at this point undoubtedly true, although it's unclear how long that will last if, as Democrats are hoping, the prospect of being in the minority leads to mass GOP retirements.

Which sorta explains the comments that Azi got from Diaz over at The Politicker:

Ruben Diaz Sr., who previously said he wouldn’t vote for any leader that would allow a same-sex marriage bill to be brought to the floor for a vote, told me, “I, Senator Diaz, am relieved everything is going to be OK.”

When asked if that meant he got the assurance he was looking for regarding same-sex marriage, he answered, “I am telling you I am happy, that I am satisfied that everything will be OK.”

According to Benjamin, egos were stroked as well. Here is what the three will get:

• Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr. will be the majority leader while Smith is president pro tempore.
• Sen. Carl Kruger... will chair a pumped-up Senate Finance Committee.
• Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. will chair the Aging Committee.

Politics! Oh, so fresh, and oh, so clean!

I know that dirty deals and power plays are part of the process and I'm not necessarily surprised that there were concessions.

What worries me is the reports that Espada will grab the majority leader post (not Smith, who would get a 'president pro tempore' designation). What does that mean if true? Smith was on track to introduce the bill if he became a majority leader and still might down the line. Espada has been gay-friendly until he joined the Gang of Three but - if he does become majority leader - will his pro-gay past matter? It's the unspoken and undisclosed deals and manoeuvres that give me pause. We'll keep an eye on things.

BTW, here's The New York Times City Room blog on how things might work out regarding the sharing of power:

Two people involved in the talks said that Mr. Espada will get the title of majority leader under the deal, though Mr. Smith would be the real leader of the Democratic caucus, with the title of president pro tempore. Still, the deal would make Mr. Espada arguably the most powerful Latino elected official in New York State.

Update 1: "Skelos concedes, Pride Agenda objects" (New York Daily News' The Daily Politics Blog)

Update 2: The Empire State Pride Agenda just sent this to me under the title of "Pride Agenda Responds to Senate Leadership Deal Rumors"...

This afternoon, additional rumors began circulating in the press regarding discussions about a timeline for marriage equality legislation during the State Senate leadership negotiations. We have been told several times by the Democratic Senate Leadership that marriage equality legislation will come to the Senate floor for a vote once we have enough votes to pass the bill. We have no reason to believe that this has changed.

In response to these recent rumors, we have released the statement below. We will continue to update you on this issue.

Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle in Response to Rumors About Marriage Equality and the Senate Leadership Deal

December 4, 2008 - “We are still awaiting the final details of the announced State Senate leadership deal. We would expect that any rumors that marriage equality was somehow a part of this deal are just that—rumors. Civil rights should never be a bargaining chip in any political leadership battle, and we would be outraged if the issue of marriage equality was even part of the discussions.”

Related: Espada majorty leader? (The Village Voice's Running Scared Blog)

Update: The Gang of Four... no, Three... hm, Two... er, None?

Despite doing some huffing and puffing and threatening to introduce a statewide referendum to ban same-sex marriage in New York State last week, there has been no indication that the Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr. - a New York State Senator - actually did such a thing.

The Reverend, a Democrat, is among the biggest homophobes in New York State politics and has used his stand on same-sex marriage and his opposition to abortion rights to endear himself to Senate Republicans over the years.

This year, as Senate Democrats gained the upper hand from Republicans by a slight margin, the Reverend saw an opportunity for a power-grab and joined three dissident senators who threatened to vote with Republicans on key issues unless their needs were met (according to Gay City News Diaz wanted "an assurance that either the same-sex marriage bill will not be brought to the Senate floor for a vote or that a statewide referendum be held on the question").

The so-called "Gang of Four" threatened to withhold support for Malcom Smith for majority leader come January demanding that Latino elected officials also be given prominent posts (three of the four dissidents were Latinos).

Within hours, though, the "Gang of Four" was just "Three" as Senator-elect Hiram Monserrate announced that he would back Smith after all (Monserrate, who has a great track record on LGBT, apparently received certain assurances from Smith in return so the whiplash switch wasn't purely altruistic).

Then on Friday came a potential shocker: Politics on the Hudson speculated that the next to abandon "The Gang" and back Smith would be Diaz himself ("'Gang of Three' meeting today").

That Diaz might abandon "The Gang" has been rumored since last week but news that he might actually back Smith? The same Diaz that issued a press release on Nov. 10 with a direct dig at Smith that read "my position as an ordained minister and a pastor will not allow me to support any would be leader that will bring gay marriage to the Senate floor"?

At least one [anonymous and GOP-leaning] blogger hypothesizes that this might mean that Smith has come to the conclusion that he will not have enough votes for a same-sex marriage bill as majority leader and might sacrifice a marriage vote for Diaz' backing - which would mean Diaz would have actually kept true to his stand even if he backs Smith.

Not sure I buy that scenario.

Still, as Elisabeth Benjamin reports today in The Daily Politics, Smith has accepted an invite to an annual Thanksgiving Day celebration staged by Diaz which will take place tomorrow.

Bizarrely, Senator-elect Pedro Espada - the third Latino in the original crew of four and the one least likely to make overtures to Smith at this moment - seems have agreed to support Diaz' same-sex marriage referendum as part of Diaz' conditions for remaining in the "Gang of Three."

I seem to remember that when Espada wasn't trying to be Diaz's BFF he was seeking LGBT support for his campaigns (the two were literally each other's nemesis for decades). Does this mean that if Diaz ends up splitting from "The Gang," Espada will drop his support for a referendum banning same-sex marriage?

Ah! New York State politics, don't ya love the stench of how things get done in the Empire State?

Previously:

• Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr. will introduce anti-gay marriage referendum today (Nov. 18, 2008)