Spitzer to skip St. Patrick’s parade over gay ban

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/16/gov-spitzer-to-skip-st-patricks-parade/

Spitzer to skip St. Patrick’s parade over gay ban.

“New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D) will not be marching in this weekend’ St. Patrick’s Day parade, making him the first governor in 12 years not to take part. Earlier this month, it was announced that openly gay New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn would refuse to march in the parade because of its policy against allowing gays and lesbians to march. Quinn decided she’ll march in Dublin, Ireland instead.”

[JackBeck]

1. Good for Spitzer.

I wonder if Hillary will march...

[myrna minx]

16. She'll leave that for someone else to decide.

:rofl:

[JackBeck]

21. Bwaaahhhh!

Touche!

[Jim Lane]

26. No, she's using her other strategy, that of ducking the issue

She's not marching (which might upset gays) but she's not announcing a refusal to march on principle (which might upset homophobes). Instead, she's conveniently scheduled a fundraising trip to Texas for this weekend.

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2007/03/catholic_league_helps_hillary.html

[bigtree]

2. Democrats setting the standard

and tone

[BurtWorm]

3. Well all right!

:applause: That's my gov!

[madokie]

4. Good on him

I share one thing with the New Yorker's, a good assed Governor, Brad Henry, Governor Oklahoma
not that that means anything

[AndyA]

5. I like Brad Henry. Considering he has to work with Repugs every day,

he manages to do pretty well.

And, he's without question a nice guy that really wants to do good things for Oklahoma, but often can't because of the Republicans, who have done nothing for the state except cause it harm.

[Cha]

28. Of course, it means

Everything!

[wryter2000]

6. Yay!

Good man. The people of New York should be proud of their governor.

[Atman]

7. Patrick Fitzhenry and Henry Fitzpatrick

The Gay Master O' Ceremony!

(And I can say that, dammit! I'm Irish!)

.

[A Simple Game]

12. Wow, I'm Irish too! I was offended by that joke the first time I heard it.

I am still offended by it.

(And I don't give a damn if you are Irish!!) In fact I would rather you kept quiet about your ancestry. It seems to me that the less you say about the Irish, the better the Irish will look.

Signed by someone with a Fitz in his name.

[Atman]

14. WAAAAAHHHH!

C'mon outside and let's fight!

:rofl:

Please, dude...you need to swill a pint and chill the fuck out.

.

[A Simple Game]

15. Still trying to make the Irish proud of you I see.

It isn't working. Maybe you should quit trying.

[Atman]

18. You're not Irish

We Irish have a sense of humor, even about ourselves.

.

[A Simple Game]

19. I am only half Irish from my fathers side. But this is going nowhere,

let me try to end on a positive note.

Let's see, you are talented, you denigrated two groups at the same time, gays and the Irish.

I'm pretty sure your Black friends love your jokes about Black people, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. We won't even talk about what you must have to say about the Italians, Jews, etc.

Have a good day.

[Atman]

22. Well, I'm only half gay...not sure on whose side.

I've got a friend who isn't fully a Jew, but he's Jew-ish. And he's half black, too. He cooks a mean bbq matzo marinara.

Yo - oy, cappice?

.

[Cha]

29. I thought it was funny and I'm so

Irish..Scotch, and Native American.

[geardaddy]

24. Yeah, but are you gay?

[AnnInLa]

8. I think Spitzer will make a fine VP or Pres

IMHO based on his consumer-protection reputation.

Thoughts from NYers about his ambitions/qualifications to be Pres or VP, please?

[Jacobin]

23. Or an awesome AG

[Cha]

30. Dunno know but Guv Spitzer

had a kick-ass People's Inaugeration Day on Dec 31, 2006-Jan 1, 2007 in Albany that had FOOD, James Taylor, FOOD, Natalie Merchant, FOOD. The day started with Spitz leading a two mile run and the Inaugeration at the stroke of Midnight!

[ComerPerro]

9. I missed where it says he is not marching for that reason.

EDIT: closest thing I could find:

It is being suggested that Spitzer is taking a stand against the policy as well:

"Though a source in the governor’s office refused to say if Spitzer was declining a place in the line of march in support of the continued exclusion of Irish gay groups, it is believed that the governor took this issue into consideration when making his decision not to participate. Spitzer has gone on record as a strong supporter of gay rights. The New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 1991 has denied permission to Irish gay and lesbian groups to march under their own banner, and a series of court challenges have failed to remove the ban."

In addition to his consistent support of gay rights and issues, Spitzer made a promise during his gubernatorial campaign to introduce legislation that would allow gays to marry in New York.

[HockeyMom]

10. Quinn can march in Ireland,

but not New York????? Yep, freedom is on the march in good, old
USA!!!!!!!:sarcasm:

[Jim Lane]

25. Quinn *could* march, but won't

I don't think the parade organizers barred her from marching. They don't exclude gay men and lesbians. They exclude the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization from marching under the group name, although other Irish groups are allowed to march.

David Dinkins took the correct position, IMO -- that the City wouldn't force the inclusion of the ILGO, because the parade organizers' First Amendment rights included freedom of association, but that Mayor Dinkins would exercise his own First Amendment rights by boycotting the parade to show his disapproval of the policy. It seems that's what Quinn is doing.

[shadowknows69]

11. Man it's good to have a good Gov back in NY

been a while now.

[wicket]

13. Bless him for standing up for our gay brothers & sisters!!!

:woohoo:

[Just-plain-Kathy]

17. One of the things I like about Spitzer is the way he handles negative press.

He made huge cuts in government aid to hospitals. ...Sounds horrible right? ...Well the hospital union or whoever started running these negative ads about Spitzer.

Well, he came right back at them. He made an ad explaining how the hospitals are given how many billions in aid already and how they should start spending the money on patient care. ...If dems acted more like Spitzer in '04, Swiftboaters couldn't have taken us down.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Good on him!

[Cha]

27. I luv my Guv!

I never thought I say that about my Gov but so far so :loveya:

Silly New York Irish..why aren't lettin' the Gays march?!

[fishwax]

31. good for Spitzer

:toast: