With its August 3 endorsement of Tim Kennedy in his Democratic primary challenge to Buffalo State Senator William Stachowski, the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) joins the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Fight Back New York in the effort to topple the incumbent, who voted against marriage equality last December.
“Stachowski not only voted against marriage but also against our basic civil rights,” said Ross Levi, ESPA’s executive director, referring to the senator’s vote in 2002 against the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. “This is someone with a long history of opposing our community… Tim Kennedy couldn’t have been clearer on the full spectrum of LGBT social justice issues.”
HRC, which made its endorsement several weeks ago, voiced similar enthusiasm about the commitment of Kennedy, a member of the Erie County Legislature, to the cause of gay rights. Speaking of conversations that Marty Rouse, the group’s national field director, had with the challenger, Fred Sainz, HRC’s top spokesman, said, “Marty has sat down with him. There was absolutely no light between us on marriage equality.”
Fight Back New York, a political action committee that is spending money to defeat state senators and candidates opposed to gay marriage, announced in early July it would work against Stachowski, making the Buffalo Democrat only its second target — after former Senator Hiram Monserrate, who unsuccessfully sought reelection in March to the seat from which he had been expelled after a domestic violence conviction.
In an email message to Gay City News, Kennedy wrote, “I am honored to have received the endorsements of the Human Rights Campaign and the Empire State Pride Agenda. These organizations’ commitment to the fight for equality is to be commended and admired… I will work toward passing legislation that will result in creating a New York State where each and every individual is treated equally and can be open and safe at home, at work, and in the community. This includes, but is not limited to, my support for marriage equality legislation.”
But, for many LGBT activists on the ground in Western New York, the case for Kennedy is ambiguous at best. “I know Kennedy smells like a dead fish, but you gotta vote for him,” said Kitty Lambert, a vice president of the Stonewall Democrats of Western New York and leader of OUTspoken for Equality. “The argument is just rational. Stachowski is not even a possible yes; Kennedy is.”
The suspicion that Lambert and others have toward Kennedy is based on issues ranging from local politics to questions at the heart of the nation’s long-running culture wars. Bruce Kogan, a veteran Buffalo activist who is also a Stonewall WNY vice president, is the most implacable LGBT critic of Kennedy that Gay City News spoke to. He emphasized, in particular, Kennedy’s role as one of three Democrats, out of nine, on the Erie County Legislature who threw in their lot with the six Republicans to give the minority party effective control of the body. Kogan said the new power bloc in the Legislature delivered a blow to the funding of community social programs — and warned that Kennedy’s party betrayal could presage a repeat of the 2009 State Senate coup, when two Democrats temporarily threatened to throw control of the Senate into GOP hands. Asked if he was worried that could happen with Kennedy in the Senate, Kogan replied, “You bet your life I am.”
Kogan’s skepticism about Kennedy was only enhanced when the state Conservative Party, which has loyally stood by Stachowski in the past, decided to go with Kennedy. “My God, what did he tell them to get their line?” he wondered. Kennedy certainly talked to the Conservatives about his opposition to a woman’s right to choose, which for many in the LGBT community is a non-negotiable issue. Lambert described his views on choice as “an awful sticking point for a lot of people,” noting that for many lesbians, especially, it was a defining issue in their political education.
Levi was well prepared to address that point, emphasizing that reproductive choice “is a priority for the Pride Agenda,” one that the group “gave careful consideration to” prior to making its endorsement. Noting that Stachowski too opposes abortion rights — he was a sponsor of the New York Right to Life Committee’s lobby day in Albany this year — Levi insisted that Kennedy would offer some incremental progress. The challenger, he said, is vocal in supporting family planning initiatives and sex education in ways Stachowski never has been. “We’re satisfied that Tim’s focus will be on achieving marriage equality and other LGBT social justice goals, and not on moving the state backwards on reproductive freedom,” he said.
HRC’s Sainz, saying his group too has “historically factored in” a candidate’s views on choice, offered a more bluntly pragmatic explanation for how they reconciled Kennedy’s views: “At the end of the day, when the New York State Senate is hanging in the balance, we had to take account of the candidates’ position on marriage equality.”
Samantha Levine, a spokeswoman for NARAL-Pro Choice NY, was philosophical about the posture LGBT groups are taking in the Stachowski-Kennedy race. “Often times, you’ll have candidates that support both LGBT issues and pro-choice positions. But we only support candidates who are 100 percent pro-choice and ESPA only supports candidates who are pro-LGBT, so sometimes we won’t support the same candidate.” Asked if a grudge or resentment would be left in the wake of such a disagreement, she responded, “There definitely would not be.”
But more than abortion rights or control of the local legislature, Kennedy’s insistence on advertising on PoliticsNY.net, a bulletin board-style website maintained by local right-wing gadfly Joe Illuzzi, is the issue that most seems to inflame local activists. Lambert pointed to a piece Illuzzi ran early in July that cited Levitus in going after the Buffalo News for profiling Paul Gevirtzman and Brian Parker and their infant daughter. For her, advertising on the site “supports hate speech”; the Stonewall club, she predicted, might find Kennedy’s ads there an insurmountable obstacle to the group endorsing him.
Another activist, Tom Gleed, recalled warning Kennedy that he needs to stop appearing on PoliticsNY.net, and being told, “I can’t do that; he’ll come after me.” Upon hearing that, Gleed said he thought, “You got no balls, you just don’t have the intestinal fortitude to get across the finish line.” Gleed said he has so little faith in Kennedy, he might support Stachowski “because I think I can still educate him.”
For all the criticism of Kennedy, though, the Buffalo LGBT community is clearly of several minds about his candidacy, with a strong likelihood that most gay voters in the end will decide to give him their vote. The tensions can be seen in Gleed’s own home. His partner, Bryan Ball, is the Stonewall club’s president. Though he declined to state a candidate preference prior to his club taking a vote— which, if it happens, will come on August 24 — Ball said, “We all feel that Stachowski has failed us and we need a new senator.” Asked about Gleed’s suggesting he could still back the incumbent, Ball acknowledged that others might agree with his partner, but “most of our community is done with Stachowski.” Significantly, he added, “I certainly take Kennedy at his word that he will support marriage equality.”
Asked by Gay City News for his reaction to criticisms raised by local LGBT activists, Kennedy responded via email, “My campaign has built a strong foundation within the local LGBT community, and we will continue to work with all leaders to achieve our goal of actively engaging everyone in this campaign to change Albany. I am confident that Western New York’s LGBT community will continue to commit to this campaign as we charge forward.”
For many activists in Stonewall, this race would have posed a happier choice if Sean Cooney, a young attorney with strong ties to progressive communities in Buffalo, had found the resources to stay in the race. The club endorsed Cooney early this year, but the attorney folded his tent in July. Kogan spoke enthusiastically about another pro-marriage equality Democrat in the race, Michael Kuzma, but he has less than $7,000 on hand and was dismissed by Gleed as “flaky… a Nader, a Kucinich-y kind of guy.”
Even as they voice disparate views on their choices on September 14, Buffalo activists seemed more united in their irritation with the role groups such as HRC and ESPA have played in the race. “HRC is now proposing to support a guy who came to Stonewall and said he was a right-to-lifer except to save the life of the mother?” Kogan said derisively. Lambert said, “We were very angry that HRC had endorsed without even speaking with any of us. Marty Rouse didn’t even know they flipped the Erie County Legislature — and they endorsed this son of a bitch.” Gleed, too, complained, “There was not enough HRC vetting of Kennedy.”
But if HRC’s action angered locals, the message apparently got through. Lambert said that the group is now in regular dialogue with Buffalo activists. Her final verdict about the Washington group was kinder than her assessment of ESPA, which, she said, “for a very long time has been out of touch with the grassroots here.”
Arguments, some of them heated, among activists in Buffalo, Manhattan, Albany, and Washington really shouldn’t come as a surprise given the enormity of what the LGBT community suffered from December’s marriage equality vote and the tabling of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act by a Senate committee in June. Nor is it unusual, that in the wake of those letdowns gay New Yorkers are skeptical. Adam Bink, a native of Buffalo now living in Washington, who writes for the progressive website openleft.com and keeps in close touch with his hometown, articulates well the mix of concerns surrounding the Stachowski-Kennedy race.
"I am hopeful, but not confident, that Kennedy will stay true to his word. The mix of circumstances surrounding his Johnny-come-lately stance on the freedom to marry, combined with the composition of some of his most prominent supporters and his district, make me concerned we will find our next Addabbo,” he said in an email to Gay City News, referring to the Queens Democratic freshman senator who angered his gay supporters with his marriage vote in December. “LGBT advocates need to make sure we keep his feet to the fire."
With its August 3 endorsement of Tim Kennedy in his Democratic primary challenge to Buffalo State Senator William Stachowski, the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) joins the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Fight Back New York in the effort to topple the incumbent, who voted against marriage equality last December.
“Stachowski not only voted against marriage but also against our basic civil rights,” said Ross Levi, ESPA’s executive director, referring to the senator’s vote in 2002 against the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. “This is someone with a long history of opposing our community… Tim Kennedy couldn’t have been clearer on the full spectrum of LGBT social justice issues.”
HRC, which made its endorsement several weeks ago, voiced similar enthusiasm about the commitment of Kennedy, a member of the Erie County Legislature, to the cause of gay rights. Speaking of conversations that Marty Rouse, the group’s national field director, had with the challenger, Fred Sainz, HRC’s top spokesman, said, “Marty has sat down with him. There was absolutely no light between us on marriage equality.”
Fight Back New York, a political action committee that is spending money to defeat state senators and candidates opposed to gay marriage, announced in early July it would work against Stachowski, making the Buffalo Democrat only its second target — after former Senator Hiram Monserrate, who unsuccessfully sought reelection in March to the seat from which he had been expelled after a domestic violence conviction.
In an email message to Gay City News, Kennedy wrote, “I am honored to have received the endorsements of the Human Rights Campaign and the Empire State Pride Agenda. These organizations’ commitment to the fight for equality is to be commended and admired… I will work toward passing legislation that will result in creating a New York State where each and every individual is treated equally and can be open and safe at home, at work, and in the community. This includes, but is not limited to, my support for marriage equality legislation.”
But, for many LGBT activists on the ground in Western New York, the case for Kennedy is ambiguous at best. “I know Kennedy smells like a dead fish, but you gotta vote for him,” said Kitty Lambert, a vice president of the Stonewall Democrats of Western New York and leader of OUTspoken for Equality. “The argument is just rational. Stachowski is not even a possible yes; Kennedy is.”
The suspicion that Lambert and others have toward Kennedy is based on issues ranging from local politics to questions at the heart of the nation’s long-running culture wars. Bruce Kogan, a veteran Buffalo activist who is also a Stonewall WNY vice president, is the most implacable LGBT critic of Kennedy that Gay City News spoke to. He emphasized, in particular, Kennedy’s role as one of three Democrats, out of nine, on the Erie County Legislature who threw in their lot with the six Republicans to give the minority party effective control of the body. Kogan said the new power bloc in the Legislature delivered a blow to the funding of community social programs — and warned that Kennedy’s party betrayal could presage a repeat of the 2009 State Senate coup, when two Democrats temporarily threatened to throw control of the Senate into GOP hands. Asked if he was worried that could happen with Kennedy in the Senate, Kogan replied, “You bet your life I am.”
Kogan’s skepticism about Kennedy was only enhanced when the state Conservative Party, which has loyally stood by Stachowski in the past, decided to go with Kennedy. “My God, what did he tell them to get their line?” he wondered. Kennedy certainly talked to the Conservatives about his opposition to a woman’s right to choose, which for many in the LGBT community is a non-negotiable issue. Lambert described his views on choice as “an awful sticking point for a lot of people,” noting that for many lesbians, especially, it was a defining issue in their political education.
Levi was well prepared to address that point, emphasizing that reproductive choice “is a priority for the Pride Agenda,” one that the group “gave careful consideration to” prior to making its endorsement. Noting that Stachowski too opposes abortion rights — he was a sponsor of the New York Right to Life Committee’s lobby day in Albany this year — Levi insisted that Kennedy would offer some incremental progress. The challenger, he said, is vocal in supporting family planning initiatives and sex education in ways Stachowski never has been. “We’re satisfied that Tim’s focus will be on achieving marriage equality and other LGBT social justice goals, and not on moving the state backwards on reproductive freedom,” he said.
HRC’s Sainz, saying his group too has “historically factored in” a candidate’s views on choice, offered a more bluntly pragmatic explanation for how they reconciled Kennedy’s views: “At the end of the day, when the New York State Senate is hanging in the balance, we had to take account of the candidates’ position on marriage equality.”
Samantha Levine, a spokeswoman for NARAL-Pro Choice NY, was philosophical about the posture LGBT groups are taking in the Stachowski-Kennedy race. “Often times, you’ll have candidates that support both LGBT issues and pro-choice positions. But we only support candidates who are 100 percent pro-choice and ESPA only supports candidates who are pro-LGBT, so sometimes we won’t support the same candidate.” Asked if a grudge or resentment would be left in the wake of such a disagreement, she responded, “There definitely would not be.”
But more than abortion rights or control of the local legislature, Kennedy’s insistence on advertising on PoliticsNY.net, a bulletin board-style website maintained by local right-wing gadfly Joe Illuzzi, is the issue that most seems to inflame local activists. Lambert pointed to a piece Illuzzi ran early in July that cited Levitus in going after the Buffalo News for profiling Paul Gevirtzman and Brian Parker and their infant daughter. For her, advertising on the site “supports hate speech”; the Stonewall club, she predicted, might find Kennedy’s ads there an insurmountable obstacle to the group endorsing him.
Another activist, Tom Gleed, recalled warning Kennedy that he needs to stop appearing on PoliticsNY.net, and being told, “I can’t do that; he’ll come after me.” Upon hearing that, Gleed said he thought, “You got no balls, you just don’t have the intestinal fortitude to get across the finish line.” Gleed said he has so little faith in Kennedy, he might support Stachowski “because I think I can still educate him.”
For all the criticism of Kennedy, though, the Buffalo LGBT community is clearly of several minds about his candidacy, with a strong likelihood that most gay voters in the end will decide to give him their vote. The tensions can be seen in Gleed’s own home. His partner, Bryan Ball, is the Stonewall club’s president. Though he declined to state a candidate preference prior to his club taking a vote— which, if it happens, will come on August 24 — Ball said, “We all feel that Stachowski has failed us and we need a new senator.” Asked about Gleed’s suggesting he could still back the incumbent, Ball acknowledged that others might agree with his partner, but “most of our community is done with Stachowski.” Significantly, he added, “I certainly take Kennedy at his word that he will support marriage equality.”
Asked by Gay City News for his reaction to criticisms raised by local LGBT activists, Kennedy responded via email, “My campaign has built a strong foundation within the local LGBT community, and we will continue to work with all leaders to achieve our goal of actively engaging everyone in this campaign to change Albany. I am confident that Western New York’s LGBT community will continue to commit to this campaign as we charge forward.”
For many activists in Stonewall, this race would have posed a happier choice if Sean Cooney, a young attorney with strong ties to progressive communities in Buffalo, had found the resources to stay in the race. The club endorsed Cooney early this year, but the attorney folded his tent in July. Kogan spoke enthusiastically about another pro-marriage equality Democrat in the race, Michael Kuzma, but he has less than $7,000 on hand and was dismissed by Gleed as “flaky… a Nader, a Kucinich-y kind of guy.”
Even as they voice disparate views on their choices on September 14, Buffalo activists seemed more united in their irritation with the role groups such as HRC and ESPA have played in the race. “HRC is now proposing to support a guy who came to Stonewall and said he was a right-to-lifer except to save the life of the mother?” Kogan said derisively. Lambert said, “We were very angry that HRC had endorsed without even speaking with any of us. Marty Rouse didn’t even know they flipped the Erie County Legislature — and they endorsed this son of a bitch.” Gleed, too, complained, “There was not enough HRC vetting of Kennedy.”
But if HRC’s action angered locals, the message apparently got through. Lambert said that the group is now in regular dialogue with Buffalo activists. Her final verdict about the Washington group was kinder than her assessment of ESPA, which, she said, “for a very long time has been out of touch with the grassroots here.”
Arguments, some of them heated, among activists in Buffalo, Manhattan, Albany, and Washington really shouldn’t come as a surprise given the enormity of what the LGBT community suffered from December’s marriage equality vote and the tabling of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act by a Senate committee in June. Nor is it unusual, that in the wake of those letdowns gay New Yorkers are skeptical. Adam Bink, a native of Buffalo now living in Washington, who writes for the progressive website openleft.com and keeps in close touch with his hometown, articulates well the mix of concerns surrounding the Stachowski-Kennedy race.
"I am hopeful, but not confident, that Kennedy will stay true to his word. The mix of circumstances surrounding his Johnny-come-lately stance on the freedom to marry, combined with the composition of some of his most prominent supporters and his district, make me concerned we will find our next Addabbo,” he said in an email to Gay City News, referring to the Queens Democratic freshman senator who angered his gay supporters with his marriage vote in December. “LGBT advocates need to make sure we keep his feet to the fire."
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