Nelson Rodriguez and Juan Rodriguez get married...

Photo: Juan Rodriguez, former president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (Screen capture).

One of the least reported stories about the success of the marriage equality push in New York in 2011 was the role of Spanish language media and its positive impact on passage of the law. In particular, the decade long support expressed editorial pages of the most widely read Spanish-language newspaper in the city, El Diario La Prensa.

Last year, as the legislative battle heated up, El Diario's pro-marriage equality stand drew the wrath of homophobic Pentecostal preacher and Democratic New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., a leading opponent of the bill.

In April announced a boycott of the paper and said that the paper would be forced to drop its daily circulation by 20,000 copies.  He repeated the threat at several of the rallies he organized against marriage equality (video from one of the rallies here).

Editors stayed mum on the boycott most of the summer but a month after the law was signed into law, El Diario's Chief Editor and CEO Rossana Rosado appeared on NY1's "Pura Política" and spoke about the boycott's utter failure as well as the paper's longtime stand in support of marriage equality ("Was Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr.'s homophobic boycott against NY's 'El Diario La Prensa' effective?").

Interviewed by Juan Manuel Benitez, Rosado also revealed why the marriage equality issue hit so close to home and become such a personal issue for her (video of full interview here):

One of the first gay weddings will take place at my home. It will be between our friends Nelson and Juan who have spent 36 years together and who will get married and - at last! - they'll have the right to do it in this State.

This was also the year in which my daughter revealed to us that she is gay. She is 17 years old and her friends, her cousins, our family, everyone has given her their full support. There has not been a single negative reaction. I think that's the world we should pass on to our children.

The gay couple who planned to marry at Rosado's home were Nelson Rodriguez - who works for El Diario La Prensa - and Juan Rodriguez - who served as the former president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party of New York.

Rodriguez and Rodriguez were among the hundreds of couples who lined up outside City Hall in Manhattan on July 24th - the first day gay couples could register for a marriage license. Bryan Llenas, who was covering the story for Fox News Latino, happened to take this great picture of the happy couple. They would get married a month later on August 20th (photo used by permission from Bryan Llenas and Fox News Latino).

A month later, in October, Juan Rodriguez (on the right) would die from cancer.

On a special 'Top Stories of 2011' episode of "Pura Politica", host Juan Manuel Benitez took a look back at El Diario La Prensa's stand on marriage equality. He ended the segment by honoring Juan Rodriguez' life (turn on annotations for an English-language translation):

This, ladies and gentlemen, was one of the many reasons why El Diario's editors supported marriage equality - and one of the reasons why Senator Diaz wanted to boycott El Diario.

---

In a lighter vein, in the same show, political pundit Gersón Borrero was invited to discuss the stories of the year.  It might be a tad politically incorrect, but here was his take on Senator Diaz' opposition to marriage equality.

OMG.

Borrero, a former editor at El Diario, has been calling Diaz "Lucifer" for years. Diaz, to this date and to the Senator's credit, Diaz still takes his calls.

Senator Ruben Diaz to Blabbeando: Thank you

One more post on the Reverend Ruben Diaz, Sr. and the anti-gay crime that took place recently in the Bronx.

Yesterday I admitted I was wrong in stating earlier in the week that Senator Diaz had been mum on the attack. But I agreed with New York Daily News political reporter Bob Kappstater when he said the statement could have been stronger and not evade the use of the word gay.

I also said that the only way I found out about the statement was through an article that ran over the weekend in the Spanish-language newsdaily El Diario La Prensa.

Admittedly, it's not Diaz's fault that other newspapers didn't pick up on his press release but, yesterday, I also criticized that the statement was nowhere to be seen in what is arguably his most public presence on the web: His Senate page.

I wasn't expecting a response and the Senator's office has certainly not reached out to me but a Google alert just... ehm... alerted me to some developments.

The Senator's office has posted the Reverend's full statement online as a top news story on his website. It's titled "Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Outraged by Depraved Acts of Violence" and it reads as follows:

I am appalled by news reports of depraved criminal acts committed by nine young men who tortured and robbed teens and men in a building on Osborne Place in The Bronx. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

No one deserves to be brutalized or victimized. Predatory crimes like these are among the most heinous. Our laws must be enforced. Each criminal involved deserves the maximum penalty upon conviction.

Violence in our society is out of control. Too many young people act on impulse and don’t think about the consequences of their actions for themselves or others. We need to teach our youth to respect each other and remind them about the importance of reflection.

There's a second story at the top of the page, though, and that one reads "Senator Diaz to Blabbeando: Thank You!". I. Kid. You. Not.  From the Senator's statement:

I deeply appreciate the honesty of blogger Blabbeando to correct himself on his website and through his twitter account about the press release I issued on Saturday expressing my outrage about the heinous crimes committed by Bronx youth on Osborne Avenue.

Even though Blabbeando criticizes me, I love honesty – and unlike Gerson Borrero – Blabbeando is honest.

I publicly thank Blabbeando for his sincerity and for his refusal to perpetuate any claim that I was “mum” over the weekend.

As you know, yesterday I also pointed out a blog post at the WNYC radio station's website in which Latino political pundit Gerson Borrero took Senator Diaz to task for the homophobia he has seeded throughout the Bronx as a political representative from the borough.  I'm not sure if the Senator - or his press handlers - missed it but I did categorize Mr. Borrero's essay as "a great, great, great - and important - column".

Mr. Borrero, as I did at first, probably wasn't aware of the statement because it was certainly not disseminated publicly and was only picked up by few media venues, making it easy for people to have missed it.

But, in his thank you statement to Blabbeando, the Reverend (or his press handlers) are directly evading the larger point that Borrero was making in his essay: Homophobia has an impact and the Reverend has blood on his hands for seeding it all over the Bronx all these years.

Yes, I sincerely thanked the Reverend for putting out the statement because I sincerely appreciated it.  But one single statement does not make up for the incredible damage the man has done to the LGBT community in New York throughout the years.

I am aware the two men - Diaz and Borrero - have a longstanding feud over Borrero's criticism of the Reverend (Borrero calls Diaz "a man of the Devil" so there is no love lost on either side).  I for one don't appreciate to be thanked in a statement that only serves to get back at Borrero.

Two final points: In releasing the Senator's statements against the crime in the Bronx, the Senator's office also state the following:

Last week, Senator Reverend Diaz joined with community leaders to denounce crimes committed against Bangladeshi residents in Parkchester. In August, he joined with members of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization to denounce bias attacks against Mexican residents of Staten Island.

Well, he might have joined those communities publicly at press conferences and rallies, but he certainly was nowhere to be seen when advocates held a press conference over the weekend denouncing the crimes.  Now, think about the opposite: What would have happened if the Reverend had stood publicly with LGBT community advocates and deplored the homophobic basis of the attack? THAT, my friends, would have been big news.

And about Kappstater's comment on the avoidance of using the word "gay" in the statement Diaz released to media: As Kappstater noted, the word "gay" is indeed absent from the official statement and it's also absent in the Senator's 'thank-you' statement but, surprisingly, it appears in the intro to the note:

New York State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz issued the following remarks today in response to online postings by Blabbeando about the Senator’s repudiation of the widely reported predatory attacks of two gay men in The Bronx... 

So, in a sense, the Reverend has yet to utter the word "gay" in deploring these attacks. As for the statement that two gay men were attacked, the alleged victims are four, not two, and, as far as I know only one was known to live an openly gay life.  The fact that two of the gang members who were victimized are alleged to have admitted to having sexual contact with the openly gay man does not necessarily mean either man was gay or identified as such.

PS: The Reverend is still blocking me from following him on Twitter. LOL!

Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.'s response to the anti-gay attacks in the Bronx

I admit it. I was wrong. Yesterday I said the Reverend (and New York State Senator) Ruben Diaz, Sr. had yet to respond to the horrendous anti-gay attack that took place in the Bronx earlier this month and it turns out the Reverend had indeed put out a statement repudiating the crime.

You wouldn't know it, though, if you visited the Senator's official website which currently lists two top stories:

The first one challenges New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his support of marriage equality.

The second highlights the Senator's support for Bangladeshi Americans in denouncing "hate crimes" in the Bronx against their community.

Having checked there first, and not having found any statements decrying the attacks, I asked some Bronx LGBT advocates and they hadn't heard a thing from the Diaz camp either.

I should have asked his office directly or read the Spanish-language press.

On Sunday's edition of El Diario La Prensa published an article titled "Indignation at attacks against gays in the Bronx."

According to the paper, they received a press statement from the Reverend which said the following:

I am surprised by reports in the press about the depraved criminal acts committed by nine young men who tortured and robbed two adolescents and a man in an Osborne Place building in the Bronx. My prayers go with the victims and their relatives. Nobody deserves to be brutalized or victimized.

I am grateful to the Senator for speaking up. I truly am. Still, there is a couple of glaring omissions from the statement and at least one journalist noticed one of them.

From a column published yesterday in the New York Daily News authored by political reporter Bob Kappstater ("Bronx hangs its head in wake of heinous gay-bashing attack"):

State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. is against gay marriage. That's his religious belief as a Pentecostal minister - and his right. But he could have been a bigger man when he issued a statement Saturday, condemning the attacks - but not once using the word gay [italics mine].

Some may say that people are stretching facts a bit too far to find any fault in the statement. But consider the fact that said statement is nowhere to be found on his official site under blog entries, news items or press releases.

In addition, it's striking that the Senator would deem fit to criticize Bloomberg on gay issues and never admit in his statement that the attacks in the Bronx were in any way related to homophobia.  More striking is the fact that ten days ago he was highlighting his work to combat hate crimes against Bangladeshi-Americans in the Bronx and that in his statement about the horrific homophobic crime in the Bronx he also holds off from mentioning the term "hate crime".

It's definitely not the kind of leadership in the Bronx that Gerson Borrero is calling for.

Gerson Borrero: The elephant in the room when it comes to the anti-gay attacks in the Bronx

If you are among those New Yorkers who have Time Warner Cable and tune in to "Inside City Hall" on NY1 on weekdays, you might recognize Gerson Borrero as the guy who spars with conservative radio host and former Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa over the political news of the week.

But for Latino residents of the city, Mr. Borrero is a journalistic legend, having been the Editor-in-Chief at El Diario La Prensa, the largest Spanish language newspaper in the city, and a political radio personality as well.  He still has a weekly political column at the paper called "Bajo Fuego" ("Under Fire").

Over the years, he has also emerged as one of the strongest straight allies of the Latino LGBT community by challenging the homophobia of some of our elected Latino political leaders.

Mr. Borrero, who blogs at The Borrero Report, is also a guest blogger at WNYC Radio's It's a Free Blog and yesterday he penned an amazing post titled "Loud-Mouthed Homophobes Have Made Gay Violence Acceptable for Too Many" in which he takes on homophobic New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., his son, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and even gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo.

An excerpt:

Let me point to the elephant in the room: Every individual involved in this odious crime is Latino. The vile act occurred in the poorest congressional district in the nation. All of the elected officials at the municipal, state, and federal levels representing the neighborhood where the crime was committed are Puerto Rican and Dominican.

Of these elected officials, the most vociferous anti-LGBT person in the Bronx is Rubén Díaz. The state senator has built his political career by vilifying the LGBT community at every turn [...] And yet, no critics have made the connection between the crime and the terrain, which has been poisoned against gays for so long by Rubén Díaz.

It's a great, great, great - and important - column and Borrero doesn't mince words.  I hope you take some time to click on the link above to read it.

In the meantime, I was invited to contribute a post to National Public Radio's Tell Me More blog on the same topic ("It's a Matter of hate, and a matter of safety"). I took a different tack and I'm not sure I was as successful as I intended. I did want to thank those people in the Bronx who did speak up to say 'not in our streets.'

By the way, Borrero also has a weekly segment in the Spanish-language NY1 channel called "Para Que Lo Sepas".  This week, he spoke about the topic in Spanish to the viewers.  You can watch that segment here.

Related:

• Bronx fights back (Gay City News)

Luis Jimenez is back in town

With posters announcing "The Second Coming" plastering the city (almost as many posters if not more than for the movie "Cloverfield"), Spanish language radio shock-jock Luis Jimenez finally ended his contract-mandated exile and was back on the New York City radio airwaves yesterday morning with his "Luis Jimenez Show" on La Kalle.

Unrepentant for past on air transgressions - or the homophobic skit that got him suspended for a couple of months last year in a version of the show that was being broadcast by Univision Radio in markets outside New York - the debut of the show was preceded by a number of interviews with the press which were striking for the animosity he expressed towards his former colleagues at "El Vacilon de la Mañana" on La Mega. So much so that when he continued to slime La Mega on the air it seemed more like an act to paint himself as the wronged underdog back in town to take them down than anything else (this "underdog," of course, is the man who signed with Univision for $5 million, making him the top paid Hispanic radio personality in the United States).

In a pre-show interview that appeared yesterday in the Daily News, Jimenez addressed his suspension for the first time in public and said: “That happened right after [Don] Imus’ problems and I think the suspension was less about me than about delivering a message."

In the show aired yesterday, which was set up as an on-air "press conference" instead of a proper show, Jimenez told listeners that he had nothing for which to apologize and said that he'd felt personally hurt about being tagged as anti-gay. He said that he knew it wasn't even the gay community that called him homophobic but one or two people at a small organization (alluding, we assume, to GLAAD, which released a statement denouncing his on air banter before the suspension).

He said that it was a sad day when radio personalities didn't have to fear the FCC but, instead, a small organization. "That's not a democracy," he said, "It's a dictatorship."

He also told the Daily News that “rules for content have definitely changed, black comedians have said ‘ho’ for years and now it’s bad. You used to hear ‘bitch’ all the time and now it’s ‘the b-word.’ I think it’s a problem, but I can adjust. You find other ways to say things. I make up words.”

He added that, despite how he felt, he wasn't about to do anything to get his new employer in trouble and that he was grateful to Univision for bringing him back to New York.

The press conference as an on-air show drew mostly online Latino website reporters with most "reporters" congratulating Jimenez on his return to the air and a female reporter actually gushing over Jimenez and how great he looked. One of the exceptions was the well-known El Diario La Prensa OpEd columnist Gerson Borrero who asked a few pressing questions about the feud with "El Vacilon," the issue of censorship and whether Jimenez would be willing to return to SBC Radio, owners of La Mega, if he was offered $10 million dollars.

But wait! What about the show's content?

Well, a number of new personalities were introduced in yesterday's show including Fay who describes herself as being a lesbian woman. She spent some time defending Jimenez from the accusations of homophobia and vouchering for his character (she's the show's Robin Quivers, if you will, to Jimenez' Howard Stern role).

Yesterday and today she engaged in some sophomoric banter with Jimenez - mostly of the Beavis-and-Butthead type - that played on words such as "mamar" (to suck) and "mamá" (mom) that, at least to my ears, fell mostly flat.

Today she asked reggae star Daddy Yankee, a guest, if he clipped his eyebrows just like Don Omar - another reggae singer with whom he has a feud - or if he regretted wearing pink in one of his old videos which might indicate he was less of a man (I guess if a lesbian woman uses the same stereotypes to call men's masculinity into question, all is forgiven, no?).

Then there was a feature in today's show - set to the Village People's "Macho Man" - in which male listeners were asked to call and see who could say phrases such as "If your hands are busy, I'll shake it for you" without sounding gay. A winner was named. As far as offensiveness goes, it was so lame that I'm not sure that it merits mention here.

No, there were no skit songs about a man enjoying being raped by another man or prank calls telling a man that he has hours to live because he has AIDS - as in the past - but I was struck by how boring the first two shows were (not something I would have said about the old "Vacilon" shows).

At one point, to promote the show's online prescence, we were told that a man was going to fall on a bed of mousetraps. For minutes all you heard was the clickety-clack of the mousetraps going off. Someone assured listeners that if they watched it online it would be funny.

As close as it got to the offensiveness of old was a song skit this morning about a man who meets a beautiful woman and takes her to bed only to find out that she has such a huge vagina that he's afraid to fall inside her and get lost. Pretty objectionable, I think, but it even felt forced. An attempt to "prove" that Jimenez hasn't changed his ways even if everything else in the show seems to indicates otherwise.

Previously:

• El Vacilón de la Mañana and Mariconsuelo (Nov. 30, 2007)
  
• A visit with the radio shock-jocks of "El Vacilón de la Mañana" (Nov. 16, 2007)
• Out of La Mega, Luis Jimenez throws a homophobic fit (Jan. 22, 2007)

Out of La Mega, Luis Jimenez throws a homophobic fit

[PLEASE NOTE: No anonymous comments will be allowed in reply to this post]

Long criticized for sponsoring homophobia during his stint as a radio shock-jock in NYC's La Mega radio station, Luis Jimenez always scoffed at the criticism saying that if they made fun of gays from time to time, well, they made fun of everybody else anyway so it should not be taken as an offense. He would also say that he personally had no animosity towards gays.

Jimenez, who recently left the radio station in an increasingly acrimonious split when he made a $5 million deal with Univision Radio, has seen his star rise despite (or should I say because) of the filth and raunch that characterized his run in the morning show "El Vacilon de la Mañana."

Question is, was Jimenez sincere when he said, for all intents and purposes, that he did not have a homophobic bone in his body?

Today, in his weekly El Diario La Prensa column, well-known political analyst Gerson Borrero reveals details of an alleged confrontation between Jimenez and Polito Vega on January 12th. Vega, who runs a salsa music show for La Mega and is allied with the radio station's owner, Raul Alarcon, is said to have forced other members of "El Vacilon" to sign contracts that prohibited them from following Jimenez to Univision radio.

Borrero writes that the two ran into each other at a parking garage in mid-Manhattan. Vega noticed Jimenez and said, in Spanish, "Hi Luis, how are you?"

"How do you think I am doing, old hypocrite! Faggot!" Jimenez is said to have shot back in anger, also in Spanish.

"You're the hypocrite, faggot!" replied Vega.

Jimenez then allegedly almost jumped out of his skin in anger and shouted "You are a back-stabber! Cock-sucker!" As Vega turned around and started to leave, Jimenez added "You have Raulito [Alarcon]'s fist up you ass, faggot."

Even Borrero makes note of the homophobic expressions used by both radio personalities though he says La Mega listeners might think they're more in line with language used in "El Vacilon."

If the description of the exchange is accurate, it shows that even when he thinks he is off the air, Jimenez deems it fit to call people a faggot [maricon], a cock-sucker [mama-bichos] or question their masculinity by alleging that he's got a fist up his ass.

The difference between the Grey's Anatomy fracas and Luis Jimenez is that while Isaiah Washington does not espouse what might be his homophobic views through his work in the top rated dramatic television show in the country, Jimenez usage of homophobic insults in private is pretty much what he did on air during his stint in the top rated Spanish language radio show in the nation.

But, because all this happens and is reported in Spanish-language media, while Washington might well lose his job over his comments, Jimenez will get $5 million to do more of the same, care of Univision radio.

UPDATE: Luis Jimenez is back in town (January 18, 2008)

La Mega shock-jocks rebuffed by mourning family

It's been a while since I listened to "El Vacilon de la Mañana" on New York City's La Mega radio station (97.9FM) but a Gerson Borrero column in Friday's El Diario La Prensa caught my eye.

Back on August 14th, 2006, in his "Bajo Fuego" opinion column, Mr. Borrero profiled Mr. Marino Heredia, a Dominican Republic immigrant who came to New York in 1978 already infected by a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes called filalia. As a younger man, Mr. Heredia had trusted those who said his swollen leg was the result of an evil spell cast on him and had only sought help from brujos (witches). It wasn't until his arrival in the United States years later when symptoms worsened that he finally sought medical help - and was diagnosed.

At 50 years of age and weighing at 750lbs, Mr. Heredia contacted Mr. Borrero seeking help in finding a specialist that might be able to help him. Earlier this summer he gained a bit of notoriety in the Spanish-language press when 15 firemen had to assist in helping him out of his second floor apartment before he could be taken to a Queens hospital. Mr. Heredia did not survive much longer, he passed away last week.

In the article, Mr. Borrero asked Mr. Heredia to describe some of the symptoms. Mr. Heredia said that one of the worst things was that his "balls had grown too much." Asked if he was referring to his testicles, he clarifies that he is referring to two massive growths on both sides of his inner thighs, which made it impossible for him to walk (elephantitis of lower body extremities and sexual organs is common in advanced filalia sufferers according to this link)

Well, enter "El Vacilon de La Mañana." Upon learning of Mr. Heredia's passing last week, they apparently latched on the comments he had made to Mr. Borrero in August and called the El Diario La Prensa columnist to discuss Mr. Heredia's "balls." Mr. Borrero says he spent a few minutes trying to convey the seriousness of the disease during the broadcast (he should have known better than to actually have gone on air with the notoriously offensive "Vacilon" crew, which it must be said advertise prominently in the print and web portal editions of El Diario).

In Friday's "Bajo Fuego" column, Mr. Borrero says that he was interrupted by a cell phone call from Mr. Heredia's sister, Luz Heredia, even as he was still on air with "El Vacilon." She wanted to express her family's indignation at the comments made about their brother on air at a time when they are also dealing with how to bury a man who weighed so much when he died.

Apparently, "El Vacilon" made an offer to help the Heredia family with burial expenses but Ms. Heredia tells Borrero "Even if we were in need, how can we accept anything from those who are disrespectful?"

Mr. Borrero is right to say that "[DJ's] Moon, Francis Mendez, Carolina, Chino and the rest of the abnormal [crew] were unmeasured in their insensibility" and ends by saying "You crossed the line, friends."

Question is: When haven't they done anything but stuff like this.

Previously

• Hispanic Jews in Miami vs. El Vacilon de la Mañana (Sept. 25, 2006)
• Letter to the NY Times: When You Raped Me (Nov. 2, 2006)
• Spanish language media no longer immune (August 13, 2006)

Politics: Monserrate vs. Sabini, gay voters vs. evangelical voters

[UPDATE: The Queens Tribune in its September 8th issue, has "wholeheartedly" endorsed Hiram Monserrate saying that his qualities "are desperately needed in a failing New York State legislature" - AD]

The electoral season is here and only a week is left before the New York State Senate primary elections. So far it's been a snoozefest with few truly contested offices which could mean that incumbents are doing an amazing job -- or not really (as spelled out in a recent Gotham Gazette report on the lack of truly contested races in the state and a report released yesterday by the city's Campaign Finance Board on how New York City's system of publicly financed campaigns "has not done enough to foster competitive races when incumbents seek re-election" - full report here).

As you might have noticed, I also live in one of the few Senate Districts that is considered to be in play. Hiram Monserrate, the first Latino to ever become a City Councilmember from Queens, is trying to unseat incumbent State Senator John D. Sabini in the 13th District, which would make him the first Latino to reach the State Senate from Queens if he emerges victorious.

Today, in a somewhat bizarre Spanish-language article in El Diario La Prensa New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. says that he offered his endorsement to Monserrate but Monserrate rejected it because, as Diaz put it, he had "a lot of homosexuals here."

Diaz goes on to say that this shows that Monserrate is more fearful losing gay voters than losing the evangelical vote (bullshit!). Still, Diaz maintains that he would prefer Monserrate to win over Sabini and is comfortable with staying off-line if his endorsement is going to do any damage to the Monserrate campaign (huh? He is talking to El Diario La Prensa's leading political reporter Gerson Borrero! Is that "staying off-line?" It's all very suspiciously reminicent of a Diaz "non-endorsement" endorsement of Fernando Ferrer when he was running in the last NYC mayoral race).

What does Monserrate have to say about it? Well, he says that there have been conversations and that, yes, there was an agreement for a 'no endorsement,' but that the doors are open and that he'd welcome Diaz's endorsement when and if it comes (FULL TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLE BELOW).

Actually, last year, when Monserrate was mulling a challenge to Queens Congressmember Joseph Crowley (slated to become the leader of the Queens Democratic Party later this year) he did in fact welcome Diaz's support when everyone else turned his back on him and I, as an ardent Diaz critic, understood why: Disenfranchised LGBT immigrant voters in Queens don't go to the voting booths but 'newborn evangelical Latino Christians,' for the most part, do! (which is why Diaz' comment about fearing the gay vote in Queens is hogwash).

It still doesn't take away from the fact that as an NYC Councilmember, as a former NYPD cop and United States marine, Monserrate has consistently voted time after time on behalf of the LGBT community. He has spoken about (and supported) civil marriage for same-sex couples as well as transgender rights in the past. He has provided funding for HIV prevention services in the borough (unlike other previous representatives) - which is why I am backing him

He has also supported progressive LGBT organizations in the borough and was one of the first elected officials in Queens to provide funding to the Queens Pride House (when other political leaders such as Sabini and Councilmember Helen Sears were reluctant to do so).

On the issue of marriage for same-sex couples, everyone keeps talking about the importance of having state-wide legislative leaders in New York State (particularly minority leaders) that support legislative efforts to legally recognize relationships between same-sex couples. Monserrate could be a key player in gathering Latino and African-American political support for the issue.

There are rumors that Sabini's camp is urgently seeking district minority LGBT leaders or organizations to join them tomorrow at a press conference on LGBT issues. I'd be interested in who shows up and what the conference will be about.

As a Latino LGBT community leader living in the district, I understand where Monserrate is coming from, I support his candidacy, and believe that if Diaz is willing to offer and endorsement despite Hiram's active support for LGBT issues, why should he turn it away?

I just regret the homophobic State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.'s knack for inserting himself into political races at the last minute even if most other legislators consider him to be a joke as well as the fact that this all seems somewhat orchestrated by the Monserrate camp. But, if a press conference materializes, I'd still say it's a cheap ploy to call Monserrate on a potential Diaz endorsement when NONE of the people on Sabini's camp have participated in ANY previous demonstrations against Diaz. So, if any press conference materializes tomorrow challenging Monserrate on his LGBT record, I hope that reporters also ask about Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion's support for Diaz' anti-gay marriage demonstration outside the Bronx courts (and, yes, Carrion is endorsing Sabini).

El Diario La Prensa, September 6, 2006
BAJO FUEGO by Gersón Borrero

Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr.: They fear gays more than evangelicals

The Reverend Ruben Diaz says: "They (the politicians) are more fearful of the gay vote than that of evangelicals. The declaration by the controversial State Senator is part of his explanation for the support he offered to Hiram Monserrate, in Senatorial District 13 of Queens, which was rejected. According to Diaz the current elected official said to him, "I have a great number of homosexuals here."

Monserrate, for his part, confirms to EL DIARIO/LA PRENSA that "yes we did speak about it and we both decided if we that it would be better if he did not support me." Diaz affirms that he prefers a Monserrate victory over his colleague John D. Sabini, the incumbent leader. "Sure, if I am going to do him any harm with the homosexuals with my endorsement, I won’t do it,” says Diaz whose opposition to marriage between gays is as well-known as his opposition to abortion and his support to the teaching of the Bible in public schools.

Diaz does not offer any evidence that there might be a larger number of gays in the disputed District than in others and attributes the skittishness to Monserrate’s fears. The Senator from the 32nd District in the Bronx remembers that "[Fernando] Ferrer also did not want my endorsement for the same reason” [when he was a New York City mayoral candidate].

Monserrate, who prefers to minimize any distractions that might divert any focus on his efforts to become first Latino to represent Queens in the New York Senate says that "if Ruben Diaz wants to unite himself with us today we will welcome him."

Diaz rejected an invite to join rivals Fernando Ferrer and Mark Green in reaffirming their endorsement of [Monserrate’s] candidacy. The politician says that he never will forget what Green did to Freddie [Ferrer] and to his community in 2001 and therefore he does not want to create the perception that there are any ties with the candidate for the General Attorney’s seat in which he is battling Andrew Cuomo.

>nt>Ferrer, for his part, says that if "if Andrew joined me in supporting to Hiram, it would love to stand in his same corner," making clear that what matters is a Monserrate win and not the in-fighting. The vote by the electorate of the 13th District - among them evangelicals and gays - will decide who will represent them in Albany. Amen.

Gerson Borrero
Bajofuego@eldiariony.com