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Christine Quinn Was Supposed To Be NYC’s First Gay Mayor. Why Did She Lose So Big?

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Christine Quinn was supposed to be New York City’s first woman mayor, and first gay or lesbian mayor. Now, it’s all but certain Bill de Blasio will be the Big Apple’s next leader. Quinn didn’t even come in second in yesterday’s Democratic primary — she came in third, with just 15.5 percent of the vote.

Quinn is 47, a lesbian, female, white, and lives in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. She is a college graduate, Christian, and I’m sure has many other wonderful attributes.

She was endorsed by practically everyone.

OK, not exactly, but Quinn got endorsements from the New York Times, Gloria Steinem, Sandra Fluke, and even George Takei. “Over 100 Groups and Community Leaders have Endorsed Christine Quinn,” her website says.

But that wasn’t enough.

If anyone is screaming homophobia or discrimination, by the way, they should leave now.

“LGBT politicos are in deep denial if they don’t in fact see New York’s mayoral race as a harbinger of what the future brings, in New York and throughout the country,” writes Michelangelo Signorile, the Editor-at-large at the Huffington Post’s Gay Voices. In “Christine Quinn and the Maturing of the LGBT Vote,” Signorile notes:

“This race was actually a reflection of the advances that the LGBT community has made in New York, with LGBT voters rejecting simplistic identity politics and voting on much broader issues affecting them and all New Yorkers.”

Signorile issues a strong warning too.

I do want to say that those LGBT leaders of groups based in Washington, D.C., that raised lots of money for Quinn and are now lamenting her loss — and blaming LGBT New Yorkers for abandoning her — are insulting the well-informed, politically active LGBT voters of New York, and it will only cause further backlash against them if they continue. They’re also tone-deaf to the fact that the majority of LGBT people in this city, like the larger population, are people of color and have other priorities as well, including ending Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk policy, which became central in the campaign.

In fact, we all have many other priorities in addition to protecting our rights as LGBT people. In the past, LGBT people in New York City often couldn’t afford to focus on other issues because our health care, our safety, our homes, our jobs, and our relationships were on the line; as LGBT people, we were not protected from discrimination. And while homophobia is far from dead — evidenced by the recent string of brutal anti-LGBT violence in New York — we can also look to other issues that are important to us and our neighbors. That’s progress. It represents a maturation of the LGBT vote in New York, and, in time, it will likely happen across the country.

Personally, I look at the Quinn race as I look at our readership and this site. LGBT people are full-fledged human beings, with the same responsibilities and desires, the same challenges and cares as every other American. Our challenges may at times be much harder — we still have no ENDA, and most LGBT Americans still cannot marry — but we’re all human beings leading challenging, multi-dimensional lives. That’s why we write about progressive politics here, not just LGBT issues.

Finally, a look at the Democratic primary’s exit polls from the New York Times, which asked 15 questions of voters, including demographic information, reveals a few fascinating facts.

New York City Primary Results - NYTimes.com

Quinn won none of the groups. Not the LGBT vote. Not the women’s vote, not the Manhattan vote, not the college graduates’ vote. None.

de Blasio won the votes of men and women, every age group, every education group, every religious group, every income group, and whites. Both de Blasio and Thompson took 42 percent of votes of African-Americans.

Nine percent of those polled said they were LGBT. That number is in reality likely higher as many won’t answer that question, or will not publicly identify as LGBT.

And here’s the shocker. de Blasio won the LGBT vote, with 47 percent. Quinn came in second with 34 percent.

By the way, this isn’t a Monday morning quarterback bashing of Christine Quinn. Whatever your position on Christine Quinn, and I know many of our readers do not support her, she has served our community and our city well, in many regards.

She deserves our respect and our thanks.

I just thought these numbers were fascinating.

Now, assuming de Blasio becomes our mayor, he damned well better do a great job — including protecting the LGBT community from New York City’s increasing hate crime violence — which is how Quinn got her start.

Image: Christine Quinn last night conceding the NYC mayoral race. Photo by Josh Robin, via Twitter.

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News

Trump Says Judge’s Daughter He Attacked Is Not Protected by Gag Order – DA Disagrees

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The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is asking New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to clarify if the gag order he placed on Donald Trump protects the judge’s own daughter, who Trump has repeatedly attacked this week. District Attorney Alvin Bragg says the  gag order does cover the judge’s daughter, while Trump’s attorneys say not only does it not, but it should not.

“Following a request for clarification about the scope of Trump’s gag order from the Manhattan DA’s office, Trump’s lawyers now argue that not only is Judge Merchan’s daughter not covered by the gag order, but also that she should not be covered,” reports MSNBC executive producer Kyle Griffin.

Courthouse News’ Erik Uebelacker reports that District Attorney Alvin Bragg “believes Trump’s tirade against Judge Merchan’s daughter violates his gag order.”

He cites this line from Manhattan District Attorney’s Alvin Bragg’s pre-motion letter (below): “The People believe that the March 26 Order is properly read to protect family members of the court.”

READ MORE: Trump Brags NYPD Showed Him ‘Love’ at Slain Officer’s Wake

Uebelacker notes, “Trump’s lawyers say the order does ‘not apply in the manner claimed by the People.'”

He also points to the language in the gag order that bars Trump from: “Making or directing others to make public statements about (1) counsel in the case other than the District Attorney, (2) members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or (3) the family members of any counsel or staff member…”

Katie Phang, MSNBC host and legal contributor, posted the pre-motion letter:

MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin on-air reported Trump’s attorneys “say in the event that Judge Merchan is considering making his daughter subjected to this gag order a full briefing is necessary because the implications are over President Trump’s First Amendment rights, and then they take a swipe at Judge Merchan’s daughter.”

READ MORE: Comer Refuses to Investigate Trump Family Member Over ‘Influence Peddling’ Allegation

Rubin continued, adding that Trump’s attorneys also “say because she [Merchan’s daughter] is engaged and providing support to the enemies of former President Trump it’s totally appropriate for him to talk about her.”

Earlier Friday, Rubin noted, “Trump’s attack on Judge Merchan’s daughter last night represents the fourth time in three days that he has singled her out—and exposed her to potential harm. And she’s sadly not alone.”

“Last year, during the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud trial, Trump similarly went after the wife of Judge Arthur Engoron, who publicly said her purported social media account was not, in fact, her own,” Rubin noted.

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OPINION

Biden Should Have Attended Slain NYPD Officer’s Wake ‘For Optics’ Says Tomi Lahren

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Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren blasted President Joe Biden for not attending the wake of a slain NYPD officer on Thursday, saying because Donald Trump did, the President should have changed his plans even if it was just “for optics.”

“The fact that Joe Biden didn’t change his plans to make an appearance, knowing that Donald Trump was going to be there, to me, that’s pretty brazen. You have the opportunity to show up, even if you are just doing it for optics, and he chose not to,” Lahren said on Fox News Friday afternoon (video below).

Trump was invited to the wake by Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, while one of the NYPD unions warned NYC Democratic leaders to not show up. Over the past decade about 100 police officers are killed in the line of duty annually, including 118 in 2022, according to data from USAFacts.

After attacking the Biden campaign for doing “a horrible job, optically,” Lahren, who purchased a 2000 square foot house in Nashville after she “fled” Los Angeles, explained to Fox News viewers how Trump “cares about the forgotten Americans.”

READ MORE: USA Bible Founder Says Trump Endorsement Means He Believes ‘Same Thing’ As Every American

“I come from South Dakota, I come from Middle America,” Lahren said. “He doesn’t have to pretend to understand the plight of the smaller folks out there, but he can still resonate with them, because he cares about them.”

“The thing that people in middle America love about Donald Trump and always have, is that he comes as he is. He doesn’t try to wear blue jeans and cowboy boots and try to ‘be’ one of us,” she said, “but he still is one of us in that he cares about us. He cares about the forgotten Americans.”

Speaking to reporters at the wake on Thursday, Trump, who is facing 88 criminal felony charges, said, “we have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often.”

Watch below or at this link.

RELATED: Trump Brags NYPD Showed Him ‘Love’ at Slain Officer’s Wake

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OPINION

USA Bible Founder Says Trump Endorsement Means He Believes ‘Same Thing’ As Every American

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Amid the controversy of Donald Trump endorsing, promoting, and reportedly earning royalties from the “God Bless the USA Bible,” Lee Greenwood, the creator of the book, is speaking out to defend the ex-president.

He says there’s no difference between when Trump took the presidential oath of office by placing his hand on a bible, and now endorsing Greenwood’s version of the book, which sells for $59.99.

“You have to remember that when President Trump took his oath of office, he put his hand on a Bible to swear that he would defend the country and the Constitution,” says Greenwood, a singer-songwriter whose “God Bless the U.S.A.” has been used by many Republicans over the past few decades, with Trump playing it at his rallies.

Greenwood, speaking on the far-right media outlet Real America’s Voice, also says that Trump’s endorsement merely telegraphs that he believes the “same thing” that every other American believes.

READ MORE: Trump Brags NYPD Showed Him ‘Love’ at Slain Officer’s Wake

“This is just more of the same except for now, he’s actually telling the world and telling our country and all of its citizens, I will protect you and I will make sure that you know that I believe in the same thing you believe in, that this country was founded on faith.”

Not all Americans are Christian. A survey last month found seven out of 10 Americans oppose or are skeptical of Christian nationalism. And experts – not to mention founding father John Adams – have said America was not founded as a Christian nation.

In 2022 religious liberty expert Amanda Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), told the Center for American Progress, “I believe that the single biggest threat to religious freedom in the United States today is Christian nationalism.”

Nor do all Christians support Trump’s endorsement of the “God Bless the USA Bible.”

READ MORE: ‘Hunger Games at NBC News’: New McDaniel Revelations Have ‘Enraged’ Staffers, Report Says

“Catholics on social media criticized Trump for using the Bible to make a buck, with some saying that if the real estate mogul thought it was so important for every American to have a Bible, then he should give it away for free — instead of selling it for $59.99,” The National Catholic Register reports. “For others, the most egregious offense was that the God Bless The USA Bible packaged the divinely inspired Word of God together with political documents, mixing the sacred and the profane.”

Watch Greenwood’s remarks below or at this link.

 

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