Brooklyn will host the most hotly contested Democratic primaries in New York City on Tuesday, September 14th with as many as three races to decide party designees for Civil Court seats.
Why care about who wins a Civil Court primary? Because it is the court you are most likely to encounter in your lifetime, weather to settle a small claims or landlord tenant dispute. It is also a stepping stone to higher courts. In addition, the involvement of Brooklyn's lesbian and gay community in past Civil Court races was an important factor in paving the way for Debra Silber's 1997 election as Brooklyn's first openly lesbian or gay Civil Court judge.
In the 2nd District (Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Brownsville, parts of Ft. Greene and Clinton Hill) L.I.D. is backing Wavny Toussaint, a law secretary to Acting Supreme Court Justice Joseph F. Bruno. In the 5th District (Bay Ridge, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope South, Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, parts of Dyker Heights), Rachel Amy Adams, a law secretary to Justice Gerald P. Garson, won L.I.D.'s support. And in the 3rd District (Williamsburg, Greeenpoint), where a petition challenge may negate a primary, L.I.D. is backing legal services attorney Wayne Saitta.
Please take the enclosed palm card and keep it on your refrigerator and mark your calendar to vote on Tuesday, September 14th.
Weiner Missteps on
Congressional Rights Vote
Despite intense lobbying by L.I.D., freshman Congressman Anthony Weiner sided with the right wing extremists of the Republican Party and voted in favor of an unamended version of the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA) which does not include specific provisions to ensure that state and local lesbian and gay civil rights protections aren't gutted. All other Brooklyn Democrats opposed the bill, though Republican Vito Fossella also voted yes (see following story).
As we reported in Summer Lambda Line, recent court decisions strongly suggest that RLPA and similar religious free expression arguments could be used to severely limit the reach of local and state lesbian and gay civil rights laws. Shortly after the House passed RLPA, its anti-gay subtexts were clearly articulated by sponsor Rep. Charles Canady (R-FL). “I believe there are contexts in which the bill could result in a claimant who is defending against the application of a local gay rights ordinance to raise a claim that would be successful because compliance with that ordinance was a violation of the free exercise of religion,” Canady told a C-SPAN reporter. “I think that this law would trump the gay rights ordinance.”
In short, RLPA as currently written would sanction anti-lesbian and gay bigotry in the name of religious freedom. This is dangerous, wrong and entirely avoidable since an amended RLPA could have ensured both religious liberties and lesbian and gay rights.
While Weiner supported an amendment offered by Rep. Jerrold Nadler which would have specifically protected lesbian and gay civil rights laws from attack under RLPA, he did not oppose RLPA itself or remove his name as a sponsor of the bill, as L.I.D. had requested. He also failed to sign on to a "Dear Colleague" letter urging support for the Nadler amendment among fellow House members. Although Weiner understood the risks to lesbian and gay rights protections, he repeatedly and unreasonably denied that the risks were significant or likely to come to pass, even after Canady's statement..
We applaud Rep. Nadler's leadership in the RLPA fight and thank Reps. Owens, Towns and Velazquez for standing with our community throughout this battle. But as L.I.D. Co-President Daniel Tietz stated in a July 18th letter, Weiner will "have to work hard to convince us that our rights and concerns are safe with you and that you can be counted on to contemplate the larger consequences of your actions and not merely the next election."
Fossella Batting .000
In the month of July alone, Rep. Vito Fossella, who represents Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and Gravesend in Congress, cemented his position as one of the most homophobic members of the House by taking four anti-gay votes.
Aside for supporting RLPA and opposing the Nadler amendment outlined in the previous article, Fossella also supported an amendment which would have banned funding for joint adoption by lesbians and gays in the District of Columbia. The amendment was defeated by a slim margin, and we thank Reps. Nadler, Owens, Towns, Velazquez and Weiner for their opposition. Both L.I.D.'s July 28th email to Fossella urging him to oppose this amendment and our letter following the vote are as yet unanswered
Fossella also supported an amendment to deny federal funding to any District of Columbia Columbia. The amendment was defeated by a slim margin, and we thank Reps. Nadler, Owens, Towns, Velazquez and Weiner for their opposition. Both L.I.D.'s July 28th email to Fossella urging him to oppose the amendment and our letter following the vote are as yet unanswered
Fossella also supported an amendment to deny federal funding to any District of Columbia organization that offers a needle exchange program, a vote that is scientifically unsound and will lead to a further loss of life from AIDS.
Add to these Fossella's previous votes to:
The resultant picture is of New York City's most decidedly homophobic congressman.
Fed up? If you live in Congressman Fossella's district you need to keep the pressure on and let him know his behavior is outrageous and unacceptable. You can email him at: vito.fossella@mail.house.gov.
Another Lesbian Attack in Slope
It is an all too familiar story: another anti-lesbian verbal and physical assault in what we have all come to expect is our borough's most welcoming neighborhood: Park Slope.
The incident occurred July 12. While walking down Fifth Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets around midnight, the victim was verbally harassed by a man on the street. The man subsequently joined several friends in a car and grabbed her from the car window. As the car moved away from the curb, she was dragged several feet. She escaped unharmed.
L.I.D. joined the Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, local Councilmembers Steve DiBrienza and Angel Rodriguez and neighborhood lesbian and gay business owners and activists on the day following the attack to express outrage and concern. The incident is currently being investigated by the Bias Crimes Unit and detectives at the 78th precinct.
The suspects have been described as one white and four light-skinned Latino males, all estimated to be in their late teens or early twenties. The vehicle was a white sports utility vehicle of unknown make.
It is of critical importance that we work together as a community to find those who are responsible for this attack and that we insure that our streets are safe for everyone. We must send a strong message that we, as a community, will not tolerate bias-related attacks.
If you witnessed this attack or have any information regarding the suspects, please contact The New York Police Department Detective Janet Caban at (212) 374-5267.
Slow News Day?
You were probably as surprised as we were if you happened to see an August 16th "article" in the Park Slope Courier attempting to whip up a controversy about the lesbian and gay related holdings of the Brooklyn Public Library. The "article" featured the rantings of one anonymous person who claimed that L.I.D. had "taken over" the library and was turning it into a "subsidiary of the homosexual movement." The entire piece occupied nearly 12 column inches on page 4.
Bewildered? Join the club. Keep in mind, this person did not represent an organization, did not identify himself, had not lodged a formal complaint of any sort, or been staging daily protests in front of the local branch. In short, he had done nothing remotely newsworthy -- unless having an opinion has suddenly become newsworthy.
While the Park Slope Courier has been generous in its reporting on the borough's lesbian and gay community -- including a recent front page article on RLPA -- we can't help but point out that by any objective standard this was not news. The newspaper certainly was not obligated to dignify the rantings of one anonymous citizen. We've heard of "creating" news on a slow day, but this "article" carried that a bit too far.
Charter Steamroller Visits Brooklyn
There’s been some, but not enough, publicity about Mayor Giuliani’s proposal to revise the New York City charter. One of the driving forces behind revising the charter at this time, most observers agree, is the mayor’s wish to prevent Public Advocate Mark Green from succeeding him should the mayor happen to win his race for the U.S. Senate.
But there are other disturbing issues raised in the draft, many of them transparent deliverances of additional power to a mayor who already arrogates unto himself far more power than he should have.
LID Co-President Lola Simmons and Corresponding Secretary Renée Cafiero, attended the Brooklyn hearing. While there were some supporters of the commission’s report, the overwhelming majority spoke against it. This includes many politicians as well as neighborhood activists and “just plain folks” from all corners of the borough.
The bulk of the statements concerned the process by which all this is happening—the undue haste (as opposed to over two years of deliberations for the last charter revision) and lack of public participation (as opposed to 29 hearings last time). Some warned that the plan would surely backfire, since the most likely voters this year are precisely those people who pay attention to good-government groups’ recommendations. A speaker from Common Cause said that even if the proposals mirrored exactly all the items on that organization’s “wish list,” Common Cause would have to oppose passage of the proposals because of the process used to arrive at them.
By the time you read this, all possibilities for public comment will be past. However, should the proposals make it on the November ballot, you'll have an opportunity to show what you think of this mayor's tactics!