This announcement comes a week after a Maine referendum soundly repealed that state’s new same-sex marriage law.

Although he can require the Legislature consider the bill, he can’t compel lawmakers to vote.

Also on Monday, Christine Quinn, New York City’s openly gay council speaker, offered an impassioned plea for the state Senate to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.

In a rare midyear address to a joint meeting of the Assembly and Senate, Paterson also implored lawmakers use their power to tackle the state’s $3.2 billion budget deficit.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is right. The press conferences are getting tiresome. Jack Price was minding his business, thinking he could walk to a corner store. Two culprits thought otherwise and allegedly attacked him, leaving Price with two collapsed lungs, a lacerated spleen, broken ribs and a broken jaw. As the culprits beat him, the whole affair was captured on camera, they shouted anti-gay epithets.

A suspect was arrested this past Sunday and the other—Daniel Rodriguez apparently on the run—was caught yesterday at the home of a relative in Virginia (why is it that criminals who do stuff that makes the papers  think they can get away by going to a relative’s house?). Rodriguez’s family is coming to his defense, arguing there is no way he has anti-gay animus.

“This wasn’t a hate crime,” said Christina Rodriguez, the suspects sister. “If he’s guilty of anything, he’ll man up to it.”

So now we wait for the legal system to turn its slow wheels. As for Price, he underwent surgery yesterday and at last word his condition was described as serious yet stable.

“He’s speaking,” said Price’s sister-in-law JoAnne Guarneri. “He’s our miracle. God wasn’t ready to take him yet.”

Anyone want to argue that some straight’s don’t have a certain bigotry?

The New York City Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Runaway and Homeless Youth will address the problems of LGBTQ teens before they resort to running away, according to a press release. The program will provide homeless youth with housing and emotional support, plus family reuniting services.

Currently, the Department of Youth and Community Development offers drop-in centers, transitional independent living programs and street outreach services for homeless youth, but a new committee of 25 civic leaders will re-evaluate youth services and ensure they are targeting LGBTs.

“New York City may be one of the most tolerant places on earth, but LGBTQ youth still face daily discrimination that forces many of them to leave home and sometimes make risky decisions,” said Bloomberg.

Earlier this week, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn announced a significant expansion to New York’s anti-bullying program “Respect for All.” The program, founded in 2007, was created to prevent bullying and to help students deal with harassment inside the New York Public School System.

The recently-expanded initiative will extend training programs to all elementary school teachers and counselors and will guide principals in creating anti-bullying plans and maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment.

“Eliminating bullying and harassment in our schools is critical to preventing hate among future generations,” Quinn said. “And now, by increasing training opportunities and accountability, we’ve created the most comprehensive anti-harassment initiative in the nation.”

Staff training and accountability is cruciala, Quinn said. “Respect for All” schools are required to develop annual plans to convey appropriate standards of behavior to students and staff, investigate complaints properly, and require all staff to attend two-day training sessions.

Prior to serving as City Council speaker, she sponsored the Equal Benefits Bill, which opted for benefits between domestic partners and she advocated the Health Care Security Act, which ensured that grocery workers receive health coverage.

Quinn attracted widespread attention in 2006 when she refused to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Its organizers have banned gay and lesbian organizations from participating since 1991.

Quinn, an open lesbian, wanted to wear her gay pride pin during the parade but regulations were not amended in her favor, so she boycotted instead.

Quinn introduced a formal resolution with council member Rosie Mendez asking the state legislature to pass the bill, which is currently languishing in committee in the Assembly. Earlier this year, the Senate version passed, sheperded by openly gay Sen. Tom Duane.

The  legislation proposes that NYC residents who are clients under HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) will pay no more than 30 percent of their income towards rent.

Quinn said the bill would prevent  11,000 New Yorkers from losing their homes.

“This piece of legislation will not only save money for our state, but it will save
money for the thousands of HASA clients and provide some vital relief for their pocketbooks,” Quinn said. ” I urge Speaker Sheldon Silver and Governor David Paterson to support this bill so we can take action towards making HASA clients’ lives easier and more affordable.”

The City Council resolution passed; the Assembly has yet to take action.

This past Friday night, WPLJ DJ Blake Hayes, cabaret and Broadway performer Danny Calvert and another friend were walking down 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen when a cigarette butt was thrown at them by a man outside of McCoy’s bar, followed by the words, “Keep moving, faggot.”

Hayes reports back on his website that they “exchanged words, more and more heated, until he started to approach us, threatening violence. Before we knew it, he had thrown one friend against a car, denting it. The other took two punches to the face, cutting his lip before the bouncer at McCoy’s came out and stopped him.”

From a statement by New York City Council Speaker (and open lesbian) Christine C. Quinn:

Early Saturday morning there was a report of an anti-LGBT attack in Hell’s Kitchen in which two individuals were the victims of a physical assault.  I am obviously outraged by news that another bias attack has occurred in our city.

But I am also deeply concerned by reports from the victims that NYPD officers responding to the scene did not appropriately recognize the seriousness of the incident.

In fact, it has been reported that they failed to attempt to apprehend or even to collect contact information from the alleged assailant.  If these reports are true, the behavior of the police officers involved was also outrageous and merits swift action by the police department.

In response I have spoken to Police Commissioner Kelly’s office.  They have agreed to conduct an investigation of these reports, and to have police officials meet personally with the victims this week.  I am very gratified that the police department has agreed to my requests, and urge them to complete a swift and thorough investigation.

One of the most significant tools that have helped us to combat hate crimes here in New York City is having a strong police response to incidents when they occur.  There was a time in our city when victims of hate crimes did not feel that the police were their allies.  Any time a crime of this nature occurs, victims need to know they will be taken seriously. To their credit, the NYPD have demonstrated that they normally respond aggressively and appropriately to such crimes.  But even one such failure can begin to undermine all of our collaborative and historic efforts.

In addition, every victim deserves to have their incident taken as seriously as any other.   I will continue to work with advocates and the NYPD to increase and expand training when needed, so police officers have the tools they need to respond appropriately to bias attacks.

This actually happened a few days ago but you know how Pride works in New York. June is all pride 24/7 . Some businesses and restaurants, hoping to get those pink dollars, have the rainbow flag waving from the start of June until July 4.  All of this  can be a little bit overbearing. A friend last night noted he was “prided out.”

Those of you who have been with us since we were Visiblevote, will remember Pauline Park. She is the co-founder of  NYGRA, the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, and was the grand marshal of the 2005 New York City Pride March. Pauline has been on the city’s public airwaves this week. On Tuesday she was part of a panel on the Brian Lehrer Show that looked at  gay politics since Stonewall (she had a return appearance on Friday  for a more in depth conversation about the transgender legislation languishing in Albany). And on Thursday, she was part of a protest against Christine Quinn, the city’s first woman and openly gay council speaker. The protesters were skeptical of Quinn’s record, especially when it comes to pushing human rights legislation and her support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“She [Quinn] has not supported a progressive LGBT agenda. In practice she has not been  an ally at all of the LGBT community,” Pauline said on Friday.

Of course, and even Pauline would agree with this, there are a number of people out there who would disagree with this assessment and think when it comes to gay rights, Quinn has been right on the mark; however, what I’ve always liked about Pauline is that she never allowed her work for LGBT rights to overshadow her larger political goals. They were one in the same.  She can acknowledge the historical nature of Quinn’s appointment and yet be critical of the speaker’s agenda.

I’m repeating myself but a vibrant gay politics works best when it focuses on the prizes of gay rights and larger political goals. In today’s parade, many of us will be connected by our commitment to gay liberation, but will be on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to other political objectives. That dichotomy shows a level of political maturity and it needs to be nurtured and supported. There is nothing wrong with having our power brokers and the folk outside looking to change the very nature of the power game. The history of the country is the tension between those two camps.

I’ll post Pride parade photos tonight and tomorrow morning.

“I don’t know if we’re going to win this year,” Quinn while speaking at the celebration last night. “But I do know we’re incredibly close.”

Quinn spoke to the Advocate after the event and said that her remarks were not meant to be a sign of defeat, but rather that “everything is up in the air in Albany” and she is “not trying to prepare the community for a loss.”

Quinn’s remarks are notable for being much less optimistic than remarks she made several weeks ago in a press conference to members of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, which 365Gay reported on.

“I don’t know it will pass – I work for the City Council, not the State Senate – but I think it will,” Quinn said at the press conference.

You can find the full Advocate story here.

“I don’t know it will pass – I work for the City Council, not the State Senate – but I think it will,” Quinn said.

The Speaker said that in talks with state senators, she realized that the conversation has changed.  “Very few of the conversations are political,” she said. There was a time when gay activists needed to come with numbers to convince legislators that gays and lesbians lived in their district, that they voted, and that there were repercussions if a senator didn’t vote in favor of gay issues.

Now all of that is assumed, she said, and the conversations are more personal. “They say, ‘I’m having a hard time wrapping my arms around it,’” Quinn said.  She added later that some senators, who are on the record as leaning toward no, or who are publicly on the fence, actually want to vote for equal marriage, but are afraid of “what they will say when they go back to their churches on Sunday.”

To help sway the vote, she suggested that gay and lesbian New Yorkers and their families write and call their state senator’s office with their personal story of how gay marriage will affect them.

As gay marriage gets debated in the Empire State, opponents seem unable to gin up a big following. Oh, they hold a rally or two, yell something about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve (a special plea to my anti gay marriage brothers and sisters: that phrase was exciting about 30 years ago: now it’s tired). Yet they are being out politicized by gay marriage supporters.

“It’s been a little bit of a challenge in New York,” said Peter S. Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, an advocacy group led by Tony Perkins. “The pro-family network in New York is not as well organized as it is in other states.”

Lack of opposition doesn’t mean that same sex marriage is all but done in New York. According to a Quinnipiac University poll, New Yorkers are divided down the middle when it comes to the marriage rights (those numbers drastically change when race and religion are factored in). And no one really knows how state senators are going to vote after the Assembly gave its OK for gay marriage. Sure state senate leader Malcolm Smith isn’t clear he has the votes, but nothing is set in stone yet.

So a weak opposition and uncertainty on what the future holds? If marriage is your rallying cry this doesn’t mean it’s time to relax. It does mean that same sex marriage advocates have done a great job of laying the ground work. If you are a native New Yorker and care about this topic, it’s time to give assistance to ESPA.