LGBTQ news and entertainment
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Sen. Bernie Sanders in New York state according to the latest Fox News Poll – 53%-37%.
The poll results also show in a hypothetical match-up, Clinton would win New York in the general election against Donald Trump by that same margin – 53%-37%.
This isn’t an “anti-Bernie Sanders” post. It’s a post about math and delegates.
With Bernie Sanders leading in Wisconsin and Hillary Clinton looking to lead by 12 points in New York, the WaPo explores why a win for Bernie and a win for Hillary don’t serve up the same results.
From the Washington Post:
These states are not equivalent. This is not a tie, with Clinton winning one state and Sanders winning another. It is, instead, a clear demonstration of why Bernie Sanders almost certainly won’t be the Democratic nominee.
After all, it comes down to delegates. Wisconsin has 86 delegates; New York has 247. Since the party distributes its delegates proportionally, that means that Sanders’s slight Wisconsin lead would earn him a slightly bigger portion of the state’s small delegate haul. Clinton’s larger New York lead would earn her a larger portion of the state’s large delegate haul.
There are still a lot of states after New York for Sanders to make progress. Many of the delegates remaining though — more than half — are tied up in three large states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California. As we noted earlier this month, Clinton is leading in the most recent polling in those three states, too.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton slaps at Donald Trump in a new campaign ad airing in New York.
The ad juxtaposes the state’s wide-ranging diversity with Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims, Hispanics and others, while including images of New York firefighters and rebuilding the World Trade Center.
The ad never mentions Trump by name, but does include an image of a banner saying “Trump: Coming in 2016.”
Here’s the text of the spot, narrated by Hillary Clinton:
“New York. Twenty million people strong.
“No, we don’t all look the same. We don’t all sound the same, either.
“But when we pull together, we do the biggest things in the world.
“So when some say we can solve America’s problems by building walls, banning people based on their religion, and turning against each other… Well, this is New York. And we know better.”
New York’s Democratic primary is April 19th and has 247 delegates up for grabs.
Three of this year’s candidates – Clinton, Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders (of Vermont) call New York home.
Bill Maher and his guests – Cornel West, Nicolle Wallace and Ralph Reed – discuss Ted Cruz’s comments about “New York values” during the GOP Debate in this clip from January 15, 2016.
Via Raw Story:
“The Republicans who constantly lambaste Obama about dividing America, and then creates smaller and smaller circles about what really is America, “the HBO host said. “Chicago? No that’s thug city. And Hawaii — part of Kenya. And LA is full of q*eers. You know, tell me what New York values are because I don’t know.”
“I was wondering how long after 9/11 before politicians could goad shitkickers into hating New York again,” Maher stated. “And I guess that’s the answer, 15 years, and now you can shit on New York again. Because you certainly couldn’t have said that two years after 9/11.”
Lecturer and activist Cornel West added, “I will admit that Brother Trump, he did tell the truth in terms of there are beautiful people in New York City — so anybody can stumble onto the truth, you know what I mean?”
|
| Gov. Andrew Cuomo marching in Gay Pride Parade |
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he will use his executive authority to ban discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, credit education, and public accommodations statewide.
Currently, the state prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But after the legislature failed several times to pass a bill protecting transgender New Yorkers, the governor decided to take the apparently unprecedented step of invoking his executive powers on the matter, an administration official said.
Looking for ways to work around the log jam in Albany, lawyers in the governor’s office found that under Executive Law 2995, the New York State Division of Human Rights has the authority to promulgate regulations of the state’s Human Rights Law, the administration official said.
The proposed regulations, which the governor’s office will soon enter into the state registry for a 45-day comment period, would expand definitions of “sex” and “disability” discrimination to include gender identity, gender expression, and gender dysphoria.
Although the Human Rights Law as passed by the state legislature would not itself be amended, the new additions that apply to the law would grant the New York State Division of Human Rights power to enforce the regulations with the force of law.
In 1990, New York passed the Sexual Non-Discrimination Act which bars discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals but not transgenders. Since that time the state Assembly has passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which would expand the SNDA to include transgender protections, eight times. But the state Senate has refused to pass the legislation.
Cuomo has long been a champion for LGBT rights including marriage equality.
Radio station K-98.3 hosts Steve and Leeana have shared what they say is a response from a Long Island mother to a seven-year old girl’s birthday party invitation sent by her two gay dads as a opportunity to showcase her homophobia.
“You’re invited to Sophia’s 7th Birthday Party,” the invitation reads.
And the response:
“Tommy will NOT attend,” the mother wrote on the invitation. “I do not believe in what you do and will not subject my innocent son to your ‘lifestyle.’”
“I’m sorry Sophia has to grow up this way. If you have an issue or need to speak to me call *** ****,” Tommy’s mother, Beth, wrote.
K-83 writes on Facebook the gay dads passed the invitation on to the station, and that Beth “gave us permission to post her phone number and said anyone who has a problem with what she wrote can call her, too!”
(via K-98.3)
UPDATE: The radio hosts have now copped to making the story up. Details here.
Bill O’Reilly: “The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals. That’s where the compelling argument is. ‘We’re Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.’ That’s a compelling argument, and to deny that, you have got to have a very strong argument on the other side. The argument on the other side hasn’t been able to do anything but thump the Bible.”
From the New York Times: As one of several dozen judges across the state who have volunteered to play an official role in marriage equality’s first day in New York state, Justice Thomas Raffaele is part of one of the most unusual judicial mobilizations in years. From Buffalo to the Bronx and pretty much everywhere else in New York, judges are signing up for rare Sunday duty.
If same-sex couples want to marry that Sunday, only judges would have the authority to dispense with the 24-hour waiting period required by law. And those judges could then officiate on the spot.
Another of the volunteer judges, Sherry Klein Heitler of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said she was expecting something of a party at the city clerk’s office. “I think there will be a lot of people,” Justice Heitler said. “I think there will be a lot of emotion. I think there will be a lot of happy tears.”
Judge Richard B. Meyer of Essex County Court in Elizabethtown, N.Y., said he felt an obligation to help any couple trying to take advantage of their newly minted right.
“I think it’s important,” Judge Meyer said, “that people who have been waiting a long time to be married and who are anxious to do it have access to someone who is able to perform the ceremony on their time frame.”
In Rochester, Judge Joan S. Kohout said she had been thinking of the legal changes during her 23 years on the bench that enabled same-sex couples to adopt. As ideas about family have changed, she said, the families passing through her court have changed.
Judge Kohout volunteered, she said, because she saw the new marriage law as a further evolution. “I’m a Family Court judge — I’m a judge for families — and I saw this as a way for me to do my job,” she said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is slated to hold strategy meetings with LGBT advocates to plan a way forward to advance marriage equality in New York state.
From New York Magazine: “A confidential strategy meeting will be held today between Governor Andrew Cuomo and top gay activists in the state over the topic of marriage equality, the Times reports. While Cuomo has often said that legalizing nuptials for gay couples is a priority, advocates haven’t been sure that he’d put his money where his mouth was — the last time that a bill on the subject was put before the State Senate (in 2009), the body was controlled by Democrats and the measure failed 38–24.”
“Now it faces even higher hurdles; even though Cuomo is vastly more popular than David Paterson, his predecessor, was, the Senate is now controlled by Republicans. He’ll need some of their votes to get a bill to pass.”
Fourteen months after the last ill-fated attempt to pass marriage equality in New York state, the recently elected Governor Cuomo said Wednesday that he intends to ask the legislature to take up the issue during this session.
Cuomo campaigned on marriage equality promises, and has repeated said that he would sign a bill allowing same-sex marriage should it reach his desk. Now he is saying “we’ll be working very hard to pass it.”
Supporters weren’t sure if the governor would truly want to take up a socially charged issue like marriage equality with the state budget in disarray.
From the New York Times: It is not immediately obvious how the legislation would fare markedly better this year, given that the composition of the Senate, which is now controlled by Republicans, has not changed significantly since the last vote.
But gay-rights advocates point to public-opinion polls that show more New Yorkers than ever support the legalization of same-sex marriage.
The issue has done well in past sessions of the state Assembly but has found more resistance in the state Senate. Republican Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos has said he won’t block a vote on the issue, but says the legislature needs to focus on the economy right now.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, Jan. 27 revealed that the majority of New York residents support legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
56 percent of those surveyed indicate that they support marriage equality; 37 percent do not.