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.
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.