Alan van Capelle, the man who ran New York State’s most powerful and well-recognized LGBTQ activist organization, has resigned to become deputy comptroller for external affairs under newly-elected New York City Comptroller John Liu.
The Empire State Pride Agenda states its agenda will not change, and van Capelle will stay through February. In a statement released today, ESPA stated,
“The Pride Agenda’s plan for 2010 is exactly the same as we have recently told you about—our talented staff and Board will work with our allies to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act early in the legislative session, and then launch an aggressive electoral campaign for the fall, which will put us in a position to win marriage equality in 2011.”
The New York Daily News’ Elizabeth Benjamin writes,
“[van Capelle] had long pressured Senate leaders to put the marriage bill onto the floor for a vote, even though it was never clear the legislation had sufficient support to pass. This was a controversial strategy that split the gay community, with some worrying the death of the bill on the Senate floor would make it more difficult to ever see it pass, and others – like van Capelle – arguing that getting senators on the record would be instructive for the next election cycle.”
Personally, I think van Capelle has done a great job, but I think we’ve all seen the big-picture effect any electoral or legislative loss has on the rest of the country. Call it the Scott Brown effect.