NY Governor to be Grand Marshal in Stonewall 40th Anniversary Pride
New York Governor David Paterson is slated to march as one of the Grand Marshals in the Big apple’s 40th Annual LGBT Pride March.
Gov. Paterson is an advocate of family parity, and backed a bill for marriage equality that passed the New York Assembly last month.
The bill has not yet been addressed by the state Senate, which has been rocked by a shakeup and reorganization effectively handing power back to the Republican minority.
However, even former Senate Majority Speaker Joseph Bruno, who refused to allow a previous marriage equality bill to come up to a vote after the Assembly approved it in 2007, has spoken out in favor of marriage equality in the Empire State, telling a radio host that "It’s time."
Paterson will join fellow Grand Marshals Ann Kronenberg and Cleve Jones, both of whom helped get Harvey Milk elected in 1977 to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk thus became the first openly gay man to be elected to a significant political office in America.
Milk was shot down by fellow city supervisor Dan White in November of 1978.
Also serving as a Grand Marshal will be Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter for the Gus van Sant-directed biopic "Milk," the star of which, Sean Penn, took the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the slain gay politician earlier this year.
This year’s Pride celebration in New York honors the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Another mayor who has also accepted an invitation to serve as Grand Marshal at a Pride march is Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, who is scheduled to appear in that city’s Pride event this Independence Day.
A June 11 item at GLBT Web resource JoeMyGod reported that right-wing radio host Adam McManus urged his "army" of an audience to take action by phoning the mayor at 210-207-7060 "to object politely to his decision to become the first Mayor in San Antonio history to serve as the Grand Marshall of the San Antonio Homosexual Pride Parade on July 4th."
McManus also encouraged his listeners to email the mayor at mayorjuliancastro@sanantonio.gov, again to protest "his decision to serve as Grand Marshall in the Homosexual pride Parade on July 4th."
"’Homosexual pride parade,’" the text at JoeMyGod commented. "Ooh, buuurn."
Added the article, "Hey, why don’t you send Mayor Castro an email thanking him for supporting San Antonio’s LGBT community? Help Texas change."
New York’s Pride celebration begins June 20.
