NYC Speaker "appalled" about homophobic comments made by former Dominican Republic president Hipólito Mejía

The blog post I published yesterday has drawn a strongly worded statement from New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito:

THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

**For Immediate Release**                                                                                                             

April 6, 2015

 

Statement by Speaker Mark-Viverito

Re: Homophobic Remarks By Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejia During a Visit to NYC

New York— “I am appalled that a former Dominican Republic president and a potential future presidential candidate has used a derogatory term that is offensive, inappropriate and hurtful toward LGBT people. President Mejia needs to apologize to the LGBT community in his country and here in New York, where he made this unacceptable statement. Leaders are called to unite people, not divide us. That includes those who invited him here and stayed silent when discrimination occured and even worse, laughed at it. I stand with the LGBT community here, in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, and I will not be silent when bigotry shows its ugly face.”

During a visit to New York City and New Jersey, President Hipólito Mejía made several remarks against LGBT people, including saying that his campaign handlers wanted to change several things about him and tried to convince him to sit "the way a little faggot does." You can read more about this from Blabbeando blog: http://blabbeando.blogspot.com/2015/04/i-wont-sit-like-faggot-for-poll-numbers.html 

Thank you, Melissa!

Reactions:

• Candidate for Dominican Republic presidency: I won't act like a faggot to win polls (Joe.My.God.) 
• Former Dominican president uses anti-gay slur during U.S. speech (The Washington Blade)
• Dominican presidential candidate disparages LGBT people (GLAAD)
• Former Dominican president tells audience he won't act like a "little faggot" (Latino Rebels)
• Dominican Republic presidential candidate makes homophobic remarks while in New Jersey (Latin Post)
• Hipólito Mejía creates controversy over anti-gay comments (El Diario La Prensa)
• Controversy over Hipólito Mejía's comments (Telemundo 47) 
• Former president of the Dominican Republic under fire for anti-gay comment (Latina)

On Twitter:

sad https://t.co/uRyqr4sUiB
— guillermo diaz (@guillermodiazyo) April 7, 2015

Antonio Pagán, 1st gay Latino NYC Councilmember, dead at age 50

I must have met the man more than a few times but, for the life of me, I can't remember a single encounter. I wasn't living in New York when he became the first openly gay Latino man to be elected to the New York City Council in 1991, but I certainly was involved in city politics by the time he left the Council in 1997, and had become well-aware of his notorious reputation.

Last week his name crossed my mind as in "Whatever happened to..." Now comes word that Antonio Pagán (right) died on Sunday at the age of 50 at Beth Israel Medical Center of a heart attack.

You might think that the Latino LGBT community would be mourning his loss and declaring him the Harvey Milk of our generation but let's say that: 1) Aside from past articles archived at The New York Times there is little online material to make others aware of his historic run for office (I mean, was he the first openly gay Latino to be elected to political office in the United States?); and 2) Hm, how can I put this gently? By all accounts he was a brilliant man but also an asshole who held petty grudges against enemies and pushed policies that were an anathema to the people he represented (not that I can't think of a few people in political office that fit that description).

Paul DeRienzo put it best when he wrote the following in response to a NY Times' City Room blog report on Pagán's passing:

Antonio Pagan was a brilliant man, but also a petty and personally vindictive one who did not embody the values of the majority of residents of the Lower East Side. He was an advocate for landlords and big business and a close associate of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Pagan’s decisions closed community gardens, community centers and evicted residents, while driving up rents in what is still fundamentally a poor and struggling neighborhood. He was also directly involved in instigating a police riot in Tompkins Square Park on August 6th, 1988 that caused hundreds of injuries to local residents. That riot happened because Mr. Pagan and others made decisions about the rights of homeless people living in the park in secret, while conspiring with police officials behind the back of the community. Mr. Pagan will not be missed as a political leader in our neighborhood, but most feel sorrow that a young man should be cut down in his prime. My condolences to his family, but to all the poor people who suffered because of Mr. Pagan’s desire to have as he once said "my piece of the rock,” they deserve condolence as well.

At that site, some defend him but most are vitriolic in the hate they spew against Pagán (he would probably rejoice in the fact that his actions still bring so much venom a decade after his City Council stint).

As for the cause of death: There is some online chatter that Pagán might have died after a longtime battle with HIV/AIDS which certainly is pure speculation at this point in time. But if that is the case, and those close to him are uncomfortable with disclosing his HIV status, what does that say about a man who was among the founding board members of the still-existing nonprofit organization Hispanic AIDS Forum? Or - if it is true that he had been battling HIV/AIDS - was it his personal wish that if he died others would not find out that he was HIV positive?

If that is the case, it certainly honors Pagán's conflicting personae, but it also speaks to how in a certain segments of the Latino community - even among openly gay folk - AIDS is still silenced.

Interestingly, since Pagán was elected to the City Council representing the Lower East Side of Manhattan, his successors have also been of Puerto Rican descent and openly gay. First came Margarita López who held the seat from 1998 to 2005 before she sought higher office when term limits came into effect, followed by Rosie Méndez who currently holds the seat.

Related:

• Antonio Pagán 1959-2009 (Village Voice Runnin' Scared Blog, Jan. 27, 2009)
• Antonio Pagán: R.I.P. (The Neighborhood Retail Alliance, Jan. 27, 2009)
• The Blackwell City Reader (Excerpt, Google Books, Published in 2002)
• Re-Representing the City (Excerpt, Google Books, Published in 1996)
• Orthodoxy vs. Whitman, Pagán (Excerpt, Google Books, New York Magazine, Sept. 6. 1993)

NYC Obama Pride launched at City Hall

Nowadays it takes a lot form me to make it to Manhattan from Queens on an early Sunday morning (and by early I mean earlier than 11am) so consider it a compliment that I made it to the steps of City Hall for the official launch of the "Obama Pride" NYC campaign. The Post has a blurb on it today and the Daily News posted an item online as well (I saw Paul Schindler from Gay City News as well but no television cameras). Seen:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn who headlined the press conference and State Senator Thomas K. Duane (both openly gay). Quinn said she would actively campaign for Barack Obama not only in New York but also in more contested states such as Pennsylvania.

City councilmember and strong LGBT-rights ally Leticia "Tish" James.

Steven Latasa-Nicks, co-chair of Obama Pride.

Tobias Wolff is co-chair of the Obama campaign's gay and lesbian policy committee.

Also in the crowd a few other local LGBT political leaders such as [CLICK ON LINKS TO SEE IMAGE] Gary Parker (c) and Matthew Carlin (r), Bob Zuckerman (top left), Danny Dromm, Brad Hoylman and - in the peanut gallery - Doug Robinson (wearing the YES WE CAN shirt), Bernard Tarver (obviously doubtful about something Doug just said) and Gerard Cabrera (top right, not looking too peppy either).

All in all, beautiful weather for a press conference. More pictures here.

For more info on NYC Obama Pride please click here.

Honored... Pt. 2

Oh lordy, the heat! Still, yesterday evening I managed to get to the New York City Council chambers pretty sweat-free. And I was pretty shocked by how many people were in the room which made it hard for me to find a seat even as an honoree (as I recently mentioned the City Council was observing the 198th anniversary of the independence of Colombia).

Colombian singer Cabas was in the audience but left soon after he made some initial remarks. There were ten honorees and we were told to keep our speeches short.

Councilmember Hiram Monserrate (left) read each of the proclamations presented to the honorees and mine did not seem to leave much more to say about my life's work. I wondered how the crowd would react by the mention of my work in LGBT communities but people seemed to take it in stride. Good stuff!

In my speech I said the main reason for coming to the United States was the fear of not being able to live an open life in Colombia back then but that I was thrilled to see how much things had changed since then. I mentioned the recent Colombian Supreme Court ruling granting certain rights to same-sex couples and told the audience that perhaps the United States should follow Colombia's lead.

I finished by dedicating the honor to my mother for the sacrifices she made for her three sons when we moved to the United States - She will be retiring as a college professor upstate New York this year and heading back to Colombia next year. Applause. And that was that (well, there were other honorees and some even thanked their moms as well).

I felt bad for my friend William who sat down for the whole ceremony and probably understood little of what was said since it was conducted in Spanish. I was grateful for his offer to act as my photographer last night.

To celebrate we headed to that other big Colombian heritage tradition: Xanadu on Broadway! (at the very least I believe the original incarnation did boffo-business at the Colombian movie box-office even as it tanked in the United States).

Confession: I never saw the movie but if it's half as funny as the Broadway show, I'm there! (check the very gay-licious website).

After the show, William tried to get me to do some scandalous poses in front of the theater but I had to behave myself. After all I had my City Council proclamation in hand! I have to say that I loved Kerry Butler's voice and her tongue-in-cheek take on Olivia Newton-John's Australian accent. I did the usual pose with the show star photo after I noticed her leaving the theater (below).

The temperature had fallen down by night-fall (not by much though) but the humidity was way up. By the time I got home I was drenched in sweat so my sancocho soup warning was not too off the mark. Took a nice shower and went to bed.

All in all, a very nice evening. Thanks to readers who were kind enough to send congratulations through the blog reply section or in private.

Honored...

Tomorrow is supposed to be 92 degrees and sunny. If it's like today, it will be a gorgeous day since - thankfully - the humidity has been relatively low.

BUT, and this is big a big but: I'll be wearing a suit and tie.

As friends know, this is definitely not my usual attire. I just hope I don't turn into sancocho soup with all that hot weather!

The occasion is an event at City Hall to recognize the 198th anniversary of the independence of my country of birth, Colombia (a country that's been much in the news as of late what with all that stuff on the hostage rescue operation that was on CNN 24/7 and this week's episode of the Travel Channel's "No Reservations" which saw chef Anthony Bourdain eating - what else! - sancocho soup in Medellin).

In addition to observing the Colombian independence, ten community leaders will receive honors (I don't have a list of all the honorees but today's New York Daily News mentions Vilma Vallejo, President of the Hispanic Chambers of Commerce of Queens; guitarist Milkos Andrea; and Liliana Melo, President of Colombian Professionals in the Exterior - also known as Pecx).

Hm, somehow my name is there as well. Weird, no? I never know how to react when I learn I am receiving an honor like this. Usually the urge is to ask "Are you sure you got that right?" or to look behind me to see if they're talking to someone else.

In the past, I have received honors twice from the City Comptroller's Office (in 1999 from Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi and in 2006 by current Comptroller Bill Thompson). In 1999 I also was honored by then Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.

What makes tomorrow's ceremony different is that all those previous events were tied to the annual gay pride month celebrations in New York. Tomorrow's event is not. I doubt if I am the first non-hetero person to be honored at this event but I'm pretty certain I'm the first person to be honored for work done in the city's LGBT communities.

Fifteen years ago when I moved to New York I would have told anyone who predicted that I'd be honored for my queer-related work at a Colombian Independence commemorative event they were crazy. That the ceremony will be hosted by the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus of the New York City Council speaks wonders about how things have changed in those years as well.

I thank City Council Speaker Christine Quinn who certainly has been a trailblazer herself when it comes to city politics.

Most specially, I thank Queens Councilmember Hiram Monserrate and his Chief of Staff Luis Castro who suggested my name for consideration.

[Pictured above: Sancocho! Yum!]

Charles Ober gets New York Times endorsement for Tuesday's City Council special election

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Charlie did not emerge the victor ("Only 70 votes separate 2 candidates in City Council Race," Newsday, June 3, 2008)

As readers of the blog know, this Tuesday voters in Queens' 30th District (covering Ridgewood, Glendale and Middle Village) will elect for someone to replace disgraced Republican Councilmember Dennis Gallagher in a special election.

Readers also know that my friend Charles Ober is vying for the seat as a Democrat and an openly gay candidate in what is considered to be a conservative district. He has already been the focus of a vile homophobic and anonymous letter writing campaign to dissuade voters from voting in his favor.

Being gay, of course, does not automatically qualify you for the city council, but Charlie has certainly worked hard as a community leader in Queens for decades and he has certainly earned his right to vie for the seat. As a friend, I might be biased in my support, but some less biased observers also think he is the best candidate among the contenders.

The New York Times editorial board, for one, endorsed Ober yesterday:

Charles Ober [is] a financial executive and community activist. The fact that Mr. Ober is openly gay has drawn attention because of the district’s conservative leanings. But more important are his deep roots in the community and the years he has spent engaging his neighbors on problems like prostitution and graffiti. His energy and civic engagement would be a valuable addition in the City Council.

By all accounts the leading candidate is Democrat Elizabeth Crowley, the cousin of Congressman Joe Crowley, who happens to be the Queens Democratic Party boss. She has also shown not to be all that gay-friendly.

Back in April, Azi Paybarah of the New York Observer noted that Ober had won the endorsement of the Stonewall Democratic Club - the largest LGBT political club in the city - and that Crowley did not even show up at the endorsement meeting.

This in itself does not make her unfriendly to gays but more telling was her campaign's response when those anti-gay letters began to appear in voter's mailing boxes: The Crowley camp not only failed to repudiate the letters but insinuated that the Ober campaign might have made them up (On May 1st, Crowley campaign manager Michael Reich told the New York Daily News "It looks like they manufactured an issue and tried to get press on it").

Considering these developments and the fact that Ober might be poised to become the first openly gay candidate from Queens to be elected to the city council you might think that the only gay Democratic club in the borough might give him a ringing endorsement.

Alas, you might be wrong.

Gay City News reported that the Lesbian & Gay Democratic Club of Queens voted 19-0 in favor of endorsing Crowley over Ober. This despite the fact that Ober showed up at the endorsement meeting and completed a candidate's questionnaire and - big surprise! - Crowley did neither ("Gay Council Bid in Queens," May 15, 2008).

Pauline Park, also a friend, put it this way "It's really hypocritical and extraordinary that they would not endorse a qualified gay candidate especially when they endorsed a candidate who has no apparent qualification for public office at all except that she's the cousin of the county boss."

Then last week Crowley met with the editorial board of the Queens Tribune and came out against same-sex marriage ("Gay Dems' pick in Queens Opposes Gay Marriage," May 29, 2008).

This played into the paper's endorsement on Thursday which says, in part:

Charles Ober, a longtime civic and Democratic activist in his Ridgewood community who served the LGBT community for the past decade as the board president of the Queens Pride House, is a thoughtful candidate unafraid to tell voters how he feels on critical issues, regardless of the way the wind is blowing through any particular audience.

A spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens indicated that the club's endorsement was still secure in Crowley's hand. "It's surprising because she did send a representative to the club and she showed interest in getting our endorsement," he said, "I'm not going to try to minimize that."

He also added that "It doesn't make Charlie Ober any better of a candidate; we're not comfortable with Ober's relationship to our club," indicating that their endorsement (or lack of one) speaks to animosity against Ober and is not necessarily based on merit.

If you are someone who can cast a vote this Tuesday in the 30th district in Queens, I urge you to pull the lever for Ober. Show that Queens can elect a Councilmember based on his or her ability to serve the 30th District and not on who the Democratic Party boss - or the Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club of Queens - tells you to vote for.

Related:

• The Gay Tammany Hall of Queens (The Visible Vote, June 2, 208)

Previously:

• Homophobic campaign literature emerges in NYC council race (May 1, 2008) - includes VIDEO
• Charles Ober runs for City Council (March 21, 2008)

Homophobic campaign literature emerges in NYC council race

If you think the presidential race is getting nasty, just take a look at a local election taking place in Queens.

Vying to replace one of the few Republicans holding citywide office, three Republicans and three Democrats are duking it out in a special City Council election being held on June 3rd (Republican Dennis Gallagher, who had held the seat, stepped down as part of a plea deal stemming from a sexual assault).

The leading candidates in the race are Anthony Como who got the backing of the Queens County GOP and Elizabeth Crowley, who got the backing of the Queens Democratic Party (she also happens to be a cousin of Queens Congressman Joseph Crowley who also acts as the party's chair).

Also in the running is Charles Ober, who happens to be an openly gay man and is someone I have known for more than a decade. Yesterday, Ober denounced a batch of anonymous and homophobic letters mailed last week using vile language to warn local residents against voting for him.

Excerpts highlighted by the ABC7 report above include the following pearls of wisdom:

• Queers have no place in our life. Get out and stay out. Our children do not have to see this garbage.
• We already have too many faggots trying to change the laws. We don’t need more queers here.
• I now have to worry that a pedophile is going to be living here.
• He is not going to represent me. No faggot is going to represent me.
• That is why God gave them AIDS. Die and rot in hell. He looks like he has AIDS and he probably does.

Today's Daily News also pulled this quote: "Our kids will be exposed to faggots holding hands, kissing and running up Myrtle Ave. in a dress."

Surprisingly, Ober was joined by one of his rivals, Republican Thomas Ognibene, who received one of the letters and offered Ober his support against this type of politics.

"This is one of the most horrendous pieces of literature I have ever received and, of course it's anonymous, because that's they way cowards do business," he tells ABC.

What does the Queens Democratic Party have to say? Here's their Executive Secretary, Michael Reich to the Daily News: "It looks like they manufactured an issue and tried to get press on it."

In fact, the News says that multiple Democratic insiders (read: the Queens Democratic old guard) also expressed doubts about the letter and said that it might be a hoax perpetrated by Ober and Ognibene.

On the Daily News political blog, The Daily Politics, Ober doesn't say if he suspects anyone in particular of sending the letters but he drew parallels to the fact that the Queens Democratic Party had not endorsed him.

Ober has received the endorsement of the city's largest LGBT Democratic club, Stonewall Democrats. Ms. Crowley did not even show up at the endorsement meeting.

My New York: Charles Ober for City Council

UPDATES:

• Charles Ober gets New York Times endorsement for City Council - including election results (June 1, 2008)
• Homophobic campaign literature emerges in NYC council race (May 1, 2008)

On March 2nd, I mentioned that a few friends - all openly gay - were considering running for the City Council in Queens making some of the local match-ups some of the most interesting in the upcoming city-wide elections.

On Tuesday, one of them made it official: Charles Ober, who I have known for more than a decade, threw his hat into the ring.

Although certain areas of Queens remain conservative (and in this case Charlie would, if elected, take an open seat vacated by a Republican councilmember who resigned in a sexual scandal), Queens is certainly not the land of Archie Bunker anymore.

That's a picture of Charlie I took in 2004. I am biased but I think he'd make a great city councilmember. Here is the press release announcing his candidacy:

OBER FOR City COUNCIL
For Immediate release

March 18, 2008

Contact: Saverio Esposito
718-641-4414
Email: rgse90 @aol.com

CHARLES J. OBER CANDIDATE FOR CITY COUNCIL 30TH COUNCIL DISTRICT

Charles Ober today announces his candidacy for city council in the 30th city council district covering the Queens communities of Glendale, Liberty Park, Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, Richmond Hill and Woodhaven. Mr. Ober will run in the election to fill the unexpired term of councilman Dennis Gallagher who announced his resignation yesterday. Charles Ober, a resident of Ridgewood for over 27 years, is a civic leader who is an officer and board member of a number of local community organizations.

He is currently 1st Vice President of the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association, Treasurer of the Asian-American Consulting/New Land Community Center, President of the Ridgewood Democratic Club, board member of the Greater Ridgewood Restoration Corp., legislation committee member of the Queens Civic Congress, and a member of the President’s Roundtable Advisory Board at La Guardia Community College, the Richmond Hill Kiwanis, and the Steuben Society.

The civic work of Mr. Ober in all these community-based organizations in recent years has included advocacy for quality of life issues including sanitation, graffiti, policing, housing, preservation, and various community projects including after-school programming, educational forums, membership services, legislative advocacy, non-partisan voter registration, advocacy for city capital projects and fundraising.

Charles Ober stated today, “My extensive civic work provides a clear choice for the voter in the 30th Council District. My experience and civic work provide a firm foundation upon which I can base my service to the community in the City Council. I am ready to roll up my sleeves and tackle the problems our communities face, including flooding and sewer under-capacity, safety of railroad crossings, overdevelopment, historical preservation and policing. I intend to run a positive campaign about my ideas for preserving our communities and our quality of life. I am particularly proud that

I most recently led the civic effort for the Queens Civic Congress that led to the passage of a graffiti nuisance abatement law in the City Council.”

Charles Ober worked with City Council members in the graffiti nuisance abatement bill drafting and organizing civic groups in support of the bill. Previous attempts to pass a similar bill over many years had failed. The graffiti nuisance abatement law, enforcement of which began in 2007, gives the city the authority to enforce cleaning of buildings of graffiti that mars our neighborhoods where absentee owners refused to sign waivers.

In 2003 Charles Ober co-founded the Coalition for a United Ridgewood, a coalition of churches and civic groups to bring the community together after the redistricting of Ridgewood. That effort led to an award from the Citizens Committee for New York City. He is past president of Queens Pride House, a community health advocacy center founded in Queens Borough Hall and now located in Jackson Heights. The past two years Mr. Ober has led the efforts to restore the historic Ridgewood Democratic Club building.

Charles Ober graduated from Marist College and has an M.B.A. in quantitative analysis from St. John’s University. He is currently a financial executive with a local building supply company. He was in the teamsters union and department stores union before that.

My New York: Gay politics at the Queens Irish Pride Parade (Hit Me Baby One More Time)

Interesting article this morning in the New York Daily News ("Record five openly gay candidates look to toss hats into Council races," March 2, 2008) shows that, politically, the LGBT community in Queens seems to be reaching maturity.

Basically, there are "at least" five openly gay community leaders in Queens who are exploring launching campaign bids for the upcoming 2009 New York City council elections with two of them possibly facing each other in my own district of Jackson Heights.

I already wrote a bit about that particular race back in November and introduced you to one of the candidates- Alfonso Quiroz (above) - who also got a pretty nice write up recently in the Queens Courier as well.

Elsewhere my friends James Van Bramer and Charles Ober are also mentioned as considering runs. We all were founding members of the Queens Pride House and the now-defunct Guillermo Vasquez Independent Democratic Club of Queens which makes me think that maybe I should also get into the council swing of things and launch my very own exploratory committee! (A joke! That would make it three gay guys going for the same seat and that might be one queer guy too many).

Anyhoo, my friend Doug had invited me to today's St. Pat's for All Parade & Fair in Queens. It was founded nine years ago by my friend and immigrant rights activist Brendan Fay (it does get sorta incestuous in the way that everyone seems to be related politically or socially, no?) and, even if I wasn't a founder of the Parade a little known fact was that I was one of the guys who carried the big Irish flag color balloon arch at that first parade! I tell you! I'm everywhere! (Here is today's version of the arch with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Brandon behind it).

Christine, of course if rumored to be considering a run for the Mayor's Office after Michael Bloomberg vacates the office. Also rumored to be in the running, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who marched behind the Stonewall Democrats of New York banner.

The Parade usually attracts politicians who want to express Irish pride but do not march in the larger Manhattan St. Patrick's Day Parade which has a long history of discriminating against gays and lesbians. So while it's not necessarily a gay pride parade it does attract a few LGBT organizations.

Still, there are pockets of intolerance in Queens as there are everywhere else and there were a few anti-gay protesters (here's one holding a sign that reads "Rifraf out of Woodside"). I assume the 'rifraf' inlcudes non-Irish queer folk as well such as Hombres Latinos de Ambiente (pictured with their banner).

Good thing - then - that Doug's friend, Robert, was able to reclaim sodomy as ours in a stealth move that caught the protesters unguarded.

Still, nothing - and I mean nothing - could be gayer than reclaiming that old Irish ditty recently popularized (some may say plagiarized) by Ms. Britney Spears. And it goes something like this: