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09/21/2009
NYC mayor: Equality's sweet bouquet won't Bloom in the fall
In a new interview with Gay City News, NYC's Mayor Michael Bloomberg continued his commitment to marriage equality, and to swaying on-the-fence Republicans to come around to the side of fairness. But discouragingly, he put the state's chances of passing a marriage equality bill this Fall at "zero, zero." And his prospects for the immediate future are also considerably bleak:
“I don’t know how to get it to come up,” he said, explaining his view that having the issue move to the Senate floor may prove more difficult than rounding up the votes. “If you want my honest opinion,” Bloomberg continued, the Senate leadership is unlikely to move a gay marriage bill “when I don’t see these guys willing to stand up for less controversial issues.”
Despite the fact that the number of states with legal gay marriage quickly shot up to six this past spring, the mayor said, “I ‘m scared to death that the country is going in the wrong direction… I think on other LGBT issues they are clearly moving in the direction that I think they should go and you probably do too. It’s the marriage thing that I don’t see.”
Even in New York, where Paterson and his predecessor Eliot Spitzer have been outspoken in supporting gay marriage, Bloomberg argued, “Whether anybody who runs for governor next year will stand up for gay marriage, I’ll bet you 25 cents no.”
EXCLUSIVE: Bloomberg Puts Gay Marriage Chances This Year at "Zero, Zero" [Gay City News]
But then again, Bloomie is worth billions. So that "25 cents no" that he's betting against the prospect of a pro-marriage equality governor would seem to be a little hollow, both in terms of the threat and the pockets put to the gamble.
Call us Bill Thompson supporters optimistic if you must, but we're still putting some hope towards a positive fall vote that will finally stop the Empire State (which recognizes marriage equality but does not perform the same) from outsourcing its marriage bu$ine$$ across the border to Connecticut. Mayor Mike could be right about his "zero, zero" estimation. But he's certainly been wrong on this issue before.
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**SEE ALSO: In a truly bizarre turn, watch NYS's most extremely anti-marriage state senator, Ruben Diaz, blame Bloomberg for trying to rile up LGBT anger against Bloomberg:
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