During its first round of endorsements in April, L.I.D. voted to back former L.I.D. President Alan Fleishman in his bid for male district leader in the 52nd Assembly District. If elected in September, would become just the fifth openly lesbian or gay man elected by the voters to office from Brooklyn.
A long time community and political activist, Fleishman was among the founders of Gay Friends and Neighbors (G.F.N.), and served for many years on community board #6. He currently sits on the board of the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force.
The male district leader position became vacant when reapportionment dramatically changes the shape of the 52nd Assembly District, currently represented by Joan Millman. The new lines cut Bay Ridge from the southern part of the district and add large portions of Park Slope, making the 52nd A.D. by far the borough's "gayest" Assembly district.
Millman endorsed Fleishman for the post in mid-April. Current 52nd A.D. male leader Ralph Perfetto, who lives in Bay Ridge, will now run for that position in a new district currently represented by Adele Cohen.
In other races, L.I.D. endorsed Margaret Cammer, Margarita Lopez Torres and Dolores J. Thomas for borough wide Civil Court seats; Ira Cure for Civil Court (1st District), Wavny Toussaint for Civil Court (2nd District), Jerrold Nadler, Major Owens, Nydia Velazquez and Anthony Weiner for Congress.
L.I.D. also voted to back District Leader candidates, Lewis Fidler, James Davis, Jake Gold, Lori Knipel,. Ralph Perfetto, Adele Cohen, Steve Cohn, 41st District/Male: Lewis Fidler, Elizabeth Rose Daly, William Boyland, and Alicka Ampry-Samuel.
L.I.D.'s next endorsement meeting will be held on Thursday, June 6th.
Cuomo, McCall Visit L.I.D.
Democratic gubernatorial rivals Andrew Cuomo and Carl McCall both visited a candidate forum cosponsored by L.I.D. in April. Candidates for Lt. Governor and State Comptroller also attended, held at the Montauk Club.
The event was also sponsored by Independent Neighborhood Democrats (I.N.D.) and Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (C.B.I.D.). L.I.D. members will vote on endorsement for statewide races at its June 6th meeting.
Strong Brooklyn Backing
for Transgender Law
Legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgendered people is now the law in New York City, after the City Council passed the bill (Intro.24) on April 24th and Mayor Bloomberg signed it in early May. The law took effect immediately.
Under the law, the New York City Commission on Human Rights can impose fines against offenders of up to $50,000 -- or up to $100,000 in circumstances of malicious discrimination. In addition, it can order payment of back or lost wages, and compensation for emotional distress. It can also order corrective action.
The Brooklyn delegation showed lopsided support for the bill, with only 3 members opposing it: Republicans Martin Golden of Bay Ridge and James Oddo, who represents Staten Island and a small slice of Brooklyn, along with Borough Park's Simcha Felder (who replaced Noach Dear on the council).
We applaud the members of the Brooklyn delegation who supported this landmark and long overdue legislation. In particular, we would like to single out the 7 Brooklyn council members who sponsored Intro.24: Charles Barron, Tracey Boyland, Yvette Clarke, James Davis, Bill deBlasio (who Chairs the General Welfare Committee, which approved the bill before it headed to the full Council for a vote), Angel Rodriguez and David Yassky.
Lambda Brunch a
Rousing Success
Nearly 150 people attended this year's Brunch with Lambda, celebrating the 24th anniversary of the founding of L.I.D. Honorees included: Daniel Tietz, Peter Vogel Award; Alan Fleishman, Clyde Moss Service Award, Stephen DiBrienza, Special Lambda Award, and Ana Bermudez, NY Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, and FireFLAG/EMS, Brooklyn Lambda Awards. Congratulations to our honorees and thanks to our advertisers and attendees!
LID Joins Times Ad
Admonishing Church
L.I.D. was among over 175 individuals and organizations who paid to be listed as signatories on full page New York Times advertisement responding to the campaign by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to scapegoat gay people for the church's child sexual abuse scandal.
Agreeing with organizers that it was essential to answer these attacks in a direct, unfiltered response, the L.I.D. voted to expend the money for the ad.
"Catholic Church Hierarchy: Don't Blame Gay People," read the headline of the full page advertisement.
It went on to read: "The nation now knows that for decades the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has grossly mishandled cases of sexual abuse by priests of children and minors. Church leaders are now engaged in a cynical and orchestrated campaign to scapegoat gay people for this moral and public relations disaster. There is no scientific evidence connecting sexual abuse of young people to homosexuality. The Catholic Church must take responsibility for its own actions and stop demonizing gay people."
Albany Update
As the state legislative session heads into its final month, there has been significant movement on numerous bills of importance to the LGBT community.
In late January, for the 10th year running, the Assembly passed the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) by a record margin of 113-27. For the first time in history, a majority of Republicans supported the measure. There was no change in the Brooklyn delegation's overwhelming support for SONDA -- every Assemblymember voted for the measure except Dov Hikind, who was absent for the vote.
Unfortunately, despite lip service from Gov. Pataki, the legislation seems to be traveling its traditional route of being stopped dead in the Republican controlled state Senate.
In late April, the Assembly passed a bill commonly known as the "Dignity for All Students Act," by a vote of 144-2. The legislation is designed to protect students from bullying, discrimination and violence in the public schools. Ten states currently have such laws on the books, and this was the first time that the measure had passed either house of the state legislature. The Brooklyn delegation was unanimous in its support of the bill, with the exception of Assemblymember Diane Gordon, who was absent for the vote.
Assembly and Senate committees have also passed bills that would expand the definition of family to include same sex couples and allow them access to Family Court for legal relief, such as orders of protection. As Lambda Line went to press, neither bill had yet to make it to a floor vote. In the Senate, we were surprised that Sen. John Sampson was one of only 2 votes against the measure in committee. We have written to Sen. Sampson expressing our disappointment and to arrange a conversation with him about this bill. We will report on our discussions with Sen. Sampson on this legislation in the future.
He's Back!
Just when you thought Brooklyn was a little safer politically for LGBT people comes the news that arch-homophobe Noach Dear is eyeing a run for the state Senate. Dear was forced to give up his city council seat last year due to term limits.
Dear's political career has been highlighted by numerous ethical lapses, rabid homophobia and 2 unsuccessful congressional races. Speculation is that Dear is considering running in the new 21st senate district which has a large pool of Orthodox voters, though whites make up only about a fifth of the district's population.
Phelps Hate Machine
Visits Brooklyn
Rev. Fred Phelps, the viciously anti-gay minister from Kansas who travels the country picketing "gay" events, particularly funerals, made an unwelcome stop in Brooklyn in March.
Phelps and approximately 20 members of his Westboro Baptist Church picketed the Fire Department of New York headquarters in downtown Brooklyn because it had a gay chaplain, Mychal Judge. Judge was killed in the World Trade Center attack. Phelps' daugther-in-law, Betty Phelps, was quoted in the LGBT press as saying, "the department itself is filled with fags. Their priest was a fag." The group also mounted protests at HBO headquarters and at Anthology Film Archives.
The group was met by a sizable group of counter protesters. One Brooklyn organizer of the counter protests, Jack Denelsbeck, encouraged participants to pledge funds to Fire FLAG/EMS for every minute Phelps protested. The effort collected over $1,400 in pledges.
Violence Stats Released
According to the annual hate crimes report issued by the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP), 15.9% of last year’s reported anti-gay incidents occurred in Brooklyn, down from 16.7% in 2000.
In all, 87 of 547 incidents reported to AVP in 2001 occurred in Brooklyn. That's down from 102 attacks on LGBT people in Brooklyn last year and from 96 reported incidents in 1999. of 547 incidents reported to AVP in 2001.
Citywide, reported incidents were down 11% from 2000. There was also an 8% decrease in the number of victims reporting incidents and a 20% drop in offenders.