The September 11th Democratic primary is shaping up as one of the most competitive in recent memory. Largely as a result of term limits, all city-wide offices, as well as the borough presidency and most Brooklyn city council races will be open, and therefore highly competitive, contests.
The success or failure of such issues as AIDS services, the inclusion of transgender people in the city human rights law, and legislation linking company domestic partnership policies to access to city contracts could hinge on who wins these primary contests.
L.I.D. has had one of its most active endorsement seasons ever -- logging five sessions where candidates were screened and our members voted on the question of who to support. At our most recent meeting in July, L.I.D. added two new council endorsements, backing Al Van in the 36th district and Libby Hikind in the 50th district.
A longtime member of the state Assembly, with one of its strongest records on LGBT and AIDS issues, Vann is seeking to replace our friend Annette Robinson in her Bedford Stuyvesant district. Hikind, on the other hand, is seeking to challenge one of the council's few Republicans -- James Oddo -- in a district that includes Bensonhurst and Bath Beach in Brooklyn but is largely contained in Staten Island. Hikind, a third grade teacher, is the sister-in-law of Borough Park Assemblymember Dov Hikind. The enclosed palm card lists all of our endorsed candidates for 2001.
Runoff Endorsements
September 13
Because of the liklihood that there will be a runoff for as many as two of the citywide offices contested in the September 11th primary, we have already scheduled a meeting to consider endorsements for the runoff. A runoff is necessary if no candidate receives more than 40% of the primary vote. The runoff would take place on September 25th.
If one of our already endorsed candidates is in the runoff, our endorsement stands. However, if one of the candidates we've supported fails to be among the top 2 vote getters, we will consider anew endorsement in that race. We'll meet on Thursday, September 13th beginning at 7 pm at Camp Friendship (8th Street at 6th Avenue). The rules governing normal endorsement meetings will apply, meaning that in order to vote at the meeting, a person had to have joined by August 11, 2001. Any individual whose membership has lapsed since September 2000 will be eligible to renew at the door and vote.
Mark your calendar!
GOP Seeks to Thwart
Local Gay Rights Laws
House Republicans, with the obvious blessing of the White House, passed the President's so-called "faith based initiative" to expand government financing of social services by religious groups with a proviso which trumps state and local gay rights laws. While Democrats and Republican moderates were able to delay passage of the bill over this issue, they were unable to prevent eventual passage. All Brooklyn Democrats voted against the bill, while Rep. Vito Fosella maintained his almost flawless anti-gay record by voting for the measure. All delegation members received correspondence from L.I.D. opposing the bill.
Passage of the bill came on the heals of the news that President Bush promised officials of the Salvation Army he would back a provision in his faith-based initiative legislation to thwart civil rights protections for LGBT people in return for the groups support of his initiative. While the President publicly retreated from this position after the news was leaked, he clearly still got his way thanks to the right-wingers who control the House.
The good news is that the GOP leadership was plunged into disarray after clearly underestimating the power the LGBT rights argument held with GOP moderates. Unfortunately, the unconscionable language remains in the bill with only the promise from arch-conservative J.C. Watts that the moderate's concerns over this issue will be addressed in Conference Committee, though a key Republican Senate backer of the language -- Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum -- has indicated that he will move to drop the controversial language in Conference. Stay tuned!
ENDA Reintroduced
There were some positive developments from Washington prior to the August recess. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was reintroduced as HR.2792/S.1284) on July 31 with 41 Senate sponsors and 181 House sponsors. We are happy to report that Sens. Clinton and Schumer as well as all Brooklyn Democrats are sponsors of the legislation. ENDA would prohibit private sector and government employers from discriminatory practices against gay men and lesbians in the area of hiring, firing, promotions, or compensation.
Surge in Brooklyn Same
Sex Households
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of same sex households skyrocketed 242% in Brooklyn during the past decade. These statistics, released earlier this summer, report that same sex couples comprise nearly 1% of borough households, with lesbian couples outnumbering gay male couples 3,637 to 3,361, making Brooklyn the only borough with a majority of female couples. In 1990, Census figures recorded 970 gay male couples and 1,075 lesbian couples in Brooklyn.
Zip code 11215, including Park Slope, was the eighth “gayest zip code” in the country, with 619 same sex couples. Nearly 2% of all households in the Parks Slope area were same sex households, and Park Slope had the highest percentage of lesbian couples in the city. Two other Brooklyn zip codes were among those citywide with the highest proportion of same sex households as a proportion of total households: 11217 and 11201.
One in four same sex couples in New York City live in Brooklyn. Nearly 26,000 lesbian and gay households were reported citywide — a 300% jump from 1990 — accounting for over half of the 43,529 same sex households in New York state (up 238% from 1990).
Obviously there hasn’t been a huge explosion in the number of LGBT households in the past decade. The Census Bureau explains away the jump by noting that same-sex partners who checked off the “spouse” box in 1990 were reallocated to other categories, while households that did the same in 2000 were reallocated to the “unmarried partner” category.
A more reasonable explanation is an increase in reporting, not increases in actual numbers. Clearly social advances since 1990 have left gay couples feeling more comfortable being “out,” and more willing to stand up and be counted by the federal government. In addition, a national educational campaign urging gay and lesbian couples to declare their relationships in the 2000 census certainly had an impact.
Equally obvious is the fact that these statistics significantly undercount same sex couples. Many gay couples are still too fearful to honestly report their relationships. Still others didn’t realize how to answer the Census questions so they would be classified as a couple (since there was no check off box for domestic partners or life partners).
While the new Census numbers begin to tell the demographic story of lesbian and gay Americans, these figures do not include the estimated two thirds of gay men and lesbians who are not living together as couples. We can only hope that in 2010, the Census Bureau will finally see fit to ask direct questions about same sex couples and, perhaps, even sexual orientation. Only then will we begin to have a more accurate picture of our community.
Violence Stats Released
According to a recently released study from the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP), 19% of last year’s reported domestic violence cases in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender relationships occurred in Brooklyn. This is a slight decrease from 20% reported in AVP’s 1999 domestic violence survey.
Other important statistics in the study include the fact that 53% of victims did not make a police report, a positive downward shift from 1999 when 71% did not report. In 9% of cases where clients did attempt to report, police refused to take a complaint, up from 3% in 1999. In 8% of cases where a victim sought police protection, the victim was arrested, up from 2% in 1999. In 27% of cases, police took a complaint and the offender was arrested.
This follows on the heals of AVP’s annual hate crimes report, which showed a slight jump in the number of anti-gay incidents in 2000 in our borough. According to the study, there were 102 attacks on LGBT people in Brooklyn last year, up from 96 in 1999. Brooklyn attacks accounted for 16.7% of incidents citywide, up from 16.5% in 1999. Most of the incidents occurred in downtown Brooklyn, particularly Park Slope, according to AVP.
Out! Singers Wanted
Sing Out Proud!, the borough’s only lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and friends, people of all colors chorus, will be enrolling new members every Monday in September beginning on the 10th. Rehersals begin at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church, 50 Monroe Place (at Pierrepont Street) in Brooklyn Heights.
The chorus performs at various concerts and community events throughout the year. Musical selections range from Bernstein to classical to world folk music, plus contemporary works by gay and lesbian composers. For more information, contact Fred Holub at 595-2960.
Oops!
Bad editing of our lead story in the July Lambda Line might leave the impression that we rewrote Brooklyn LGBT political history. We referred to city council candidate Ken Diamondstone as the first openly lesbian or gay city council candidate in Brooklyn history. That distinction, in fact, belongs to a former L.I.D. president, Gary Deane, who nearly won a race for an at-large city council seat in 1977. That race was a major impetus in the creation of L.I.D. the following spring.