Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Kristen Gillibrand is new NYS Senator
Update (11:30 am): Read HRC’s positive statement on Gillibrand.
From a Kennedy to a Gillibrand. New York Gov. David Paterson will announce today that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand will be Hillary Clinton’s replacement in the Senate.
Gillibrand represents the 20th District in New York (it runs from the mid-Hudson Valley to Lake Placid) and is a lion killer. In 2006, she ran against a four term Republican who had always swatted away the Democratic competition rather easily. However, Gillibrand raised tons of cash (who does that remind you of?) and put a spotlight on her opponent’s weaknesses.
But, as an upstate Democrat Gillibrand represents the conservative views of her voters and has been known to vote with Republicans (she came out against last year’s federal bailout). The National Rifle Association gave her its endorsement, which for liberal Democrats is like the seal of approval from Satan.
As for same-sex marriage, she’s against it. That really should not come as a surprise. Democrats who are pro gay marriage (publicly) are few; however, she gets credit for a civil union view I’m willing to bet her constituents are leery about.
“I think the way you win this issue is you focus on getting the rights and privileges protected throughout the entire country, and then you do the state-by-state advocacy for having the title.”
Will she push for that in her new gig is anyone’s guess, but at the very least New York has a new senator who understands why gay couples are seeking marriage rights.
UPDATE: Ahh the hazards of morning blogging when I’m late for work. Marriage is not the only gay issue out there. Compared to other Democratic representatives from New York, Gillibrand earned the lowest Human Rights Campaign score: a 80 out of 100 (B-?).
“According to the Human Rights Campaign, [Gillibrand] voted against the repealing of ‘Don’ Ask, Don’t Tell’ legislation, opposed legislation that would grant equal tax treatment for employer-provided health coverage for domestic partners, opposed legislation to grant same-sex partners of U.S. citizens and permanent residents the same immigration benefits of married couples and opposed legislation to permit state Medicaid programs to cover low-income, HIV-positive Americans before they develop AIDS.”
Mmmmm. Not a good sign at all. Very Republican-ish of her. But as mentioned before: she did not win in 2006 to represent the Upper Wset Side. Will she change her views now that she represents the whole state? That is the theory, but come on people. We are all adults. If these postions can win her a future election, she will hold to them.
UPDATE 2: Okay. Dismiss everything in this post. There is the Human Rights Campaign clarification of where Gillibrand stands. Then there is the unqualified support of the Empire State Pride Agenda.
“After talking to Kirsten Gillibrand, I am very happy to say that New York is poised to have its first U.S. Senator who supports marriage equality for same-sex couples,” said Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of Empire State Pride. “She also supports the full repeal of the federal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) law, repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and passage of legislation outlawing discrimination against transgender people. While we had a productive discussion about a whole range of LGBT concerns, I was particularly happy to hear where she stands on these issues.”
I’m tired of being told I have to “give politicians a chance” when it comes to gay and lesbian issues. I’m also tired of being told by HRC or some other self-appointed gay rights leader that we should just go along with what they say. The lady needs to step up to a mike and say what she thinks for herself.
Amen Patrick,, Amen.
I was paying close attention to this poll thing on “What should be President Obama’s top priority in his first 100 days?”.
Given all the lobbying on all sorts of fronts from his day of inauguration for XYZ cause(Employee Free Choice Act, Repower America, Clean Coal, etc etc). It makes me sick that gays and lesbians will talk about how important gay rights are, but when push comes to shove, they vote for the Economy. ENDA is economic, it protects the jobs gays and lesbians have from discrimination. DADT repeal is also economic, given that so many jobless gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans join the military when they lose their jobs and can’t find another one. Marriage equality is also economic, because stable married couples have better credit, they have dual incomes which can better afford homes, cars, insurance and many other things. Yet the majority of those idiots who voted for “the Economy” were too stupid to grasp that so much of the gay rights legislation is linked to our economic well being. Gay and lesbian consumers while having many of the same economic burdens as straights, we also are some of the biggest spenders. Even those gays and lesbians who are married, who have kids, a home, a mortgage, etc, we still spend much more than our straight counterparts. Pushing forward on gay equal rights legislation will HELP the economy just as much as a tax cut or a stimulus. Yet the idiots who voted “the economy” instead of “repeal DADT and/or other gay rights legislation” are short sited retards, who are too willing to sacrifice gay rights even when doing so does nothing to help other issues.
I think she is an excellent choice.
I like her. And there are a couple of misleading facts in this article.
She never VOTED AGAINST the repeal of DODT or DOMA. She didn’t co-sponsor the bills. BIG DIFFERENCE.
She unseated a Republican in a Republican town, by a close margin in a ’sweep’ year – 2006. She ran as a centrist, and had to maintain certain public positions.
Therefore, not sponsoring pro-gay legislation, which would never have passed Bush’s veto pen anyway, doesn’t mean she’s an enemy to the cause…
She has now PUBLICLY STATED support for pro-gay legislation. While I do believe Hillary is a friend to the gays (and hope Obama doesn’t throw us under the bus), Gillibrand has one-upped Hillary with pro-gay marriage speech.
ALSO – By attacking her, you are indirectly attacking PATTERSON – who through executive order has made New York recognize Out of State Gay Marriages!!!! He is an ALLY whom we cannot afford to lose!!!